Earlier I mentioned (here) that I had volunteered as a “beta” tester of a new version of Word Press. I thought I would write a critique when testing ended but the development team produced such a good package that a critique would have little value.

The release of ver. 2.5 was announced Friday and within two hours I had upgraded three test sites and two live blogs to 2.5. I spent most of Friday evening looking for problems with the upgrades but couldn’t find anything worth worrying about so Saturday morning I upgraded this site and two others. The upgrades ranged from ver. 2.0 thru 2.3 and all went smoothly.

The two hours I spent on the first five upgrades is misleading because most of the time was spent backing up files, backing up the databases, and testing 2.5 after the upgrades. Upgrading Word Press and WP plugins is now an incidental part of using Word Press.

Here are the steps for an upgrade from an old version to version 2.5:

• Download a new plugin called, “WordPress Automatic Upgrade” (or WPAU or AU);
• Unzip it;
• Upload it to the plugin folder at the site you want to convert;
• Go to Dashboard > Plugins;
• De-activate all plugins; (The plugin README says this is not necessary because AU will do it for you. THEY ARE WRONG. Never start AU with ANY plugin activated other than AU itself. See below.)
• Activate the AU plugin ONLY, leaving all others de-activated;
• In the description area of the activated WPAU plugin click the link “Go to ‘WordPress Automatic Upgrade’ to upgrade your installation…”

That starts another five step process. Carefully read each prompt, respond, and click to proceed. In short: Follow the on-screen instructions.

Three things you should know about auto-upgrade (AU).

1. The WPAU “Readme” will say that IT will de-activate plugins and re-activate them when the process is complete. Do not allow this. THEY ARE WRONG. You should de-activate all of your plugins and then activate the WPAU plugin ONLY. When the process is complete, YOU should manually re-activate your plugins, one at a time. See step 3.

2. Before WP files or the data base is modified, AU will prompt you with a DOWNLOAD link to download copies of the current WP files (for backup). Also, AU will create a copy of the database and prompt you to download it as well. If you backed up your files and data base before beginning, these steps can be skipped. Recommended: NEVER upgrade a site unless copies of all files and data bases have been saved on at least two separate HDD’s, i.e., the server and your computer. [Three is better if you have a third HDD.]

3. When auto-upgrade is complete re-activate plugins one by one. First, look below the description of each plugin to see if there’s a later version. If there is, use the link offered to auto-upgrade the plugin itself to the latest version. One by one the plugins can be upgraded and activated without leaving the plugin page. Check each one in order to be sure there are no bad results. When the last one has been activated, version 2.5 (or later) is good to go.

When step 3 is complete, FTP your way to your WP site and look in the WP root for a new folder named “wpau-backup.” The folder will contain several files totaling 10-15MBs or more. It is highly recommended that the complete folder be downloaded to your HDD, leaving the files on the server intact. That’s two copies for safety in case you have to restore your site to the old version. [Three is better if you can find another HDD for a third copy.]

For more on WordPress 2.5:
WordPress Blog at WP.org

I awoke this morning to the noise of the Imperial Torturer’s shouts, “Hide Da’ White Wimmin!,” “Hide Da’ White Wimmin!,” and rushed over to see what the commotion is all about. Here’s the source of his perturbation:

From Snoop @ PoliticalPartyPoop:

“You make a mockery out of the blogsphere, your racist rants and horrible photos do nothing but inspire hatred and division. You desperately need counseling.”

I’ll give you folks time to digest that little e-mail note to me.

Now those of you who know me can just imagine my glee at receiving this note. I felt a little tingle down my spine, my face became flushed, but in a good way!

I don’t write as much as I should, I like to digest the keyboard symphonies performed by many of my blog heroes. However after receiving this note I am compelled to try and attempt to conduct what might not be considered a symphony but well maybe a crude bluegrass tune.

I know from time to time I should show some “good will” towards others in the spirit of humanity, but folks I don’t have this blog to espouse charitable feelings towards those who seek to f— up society via corruption, lies, ignorance and deceit.

I was having a conversation with my older brother the other day and we often talk about how we are getting exceedingly tired of dealing with, reading about and witnessing the ongoing antics of dumb ass Niggas f—ing shit up and having those of us in the Negro community no matter.

How much we rail against the idiot antics of people like the Detroit mayor, or that idiot f— Governor in New York, “freezer burn” Jefferson, Cynthia McKinney, Nigga Nagin in Nola. All of us with the same pigmentation are forever linked to the ongoing failures of prominent idiot Negros.

In addition, what makes it worse is the fact that major news networks march an endless parade of retarded idiot Negros who are more than willing to defend the colossal ignorance of these people while white folks snicker and malign.

[...]

When you are a free thinking Negro and especially if you reject Negro stupidity you have already been banished from the Negro collective.

You know I find that rather spiritually refreshing.

I find my mocking of Negrodom via the blogsphere as a necessary public service. I could care less how people perceive it. I am 100 percent honest about what I think. When I cease being candid about my thoughts and opinions is the day I retire this blog. [Some words edited for mixed company.]

Don’t stop now… Go read the whole blog. He even discusses Obama and Wrong Rev. Wright.

Americans would leave Iraq today.

Lee Cary at American Thinker:

On January 30, 2007, Senator Barack Obama introduced the Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007 in a speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate. In describing the proposed legislation he said,

“This plan would not only place a cap on the number of troops in Iraq and stop the escalation, more importantly, it would begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces with the goal of removing all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008. …

UFB! What a dumb, irresponsible act for a U.S. Senator!

Imagine this: You have two babies under 2 years old and the doctors tell you they have a rare fatal neuromuscular disorder that has no known cure, no known treatment and no organized research. The prognosis is they cannot live past 5 years old. … That’s that, right? Not if you’re John Crowley.

You might just quit your lucrative job, round up the researchers involved in the field you need, raise millions, form a company, do the research, and miraculously find a promising medicine. Good news, right?

Not if you’re then told by the power brokers, medical research orgs and hospitals that your children can’t participate in clinical trials because that would be a conflict of interest! … Give up yet?

Not if you’re John Crowley.

John Crowley On The Today Show 2001

The John Crowley Story Part 2 of 4

The John Crowley Story Part 3 of 4

John Crowley, Part 4 of 4, on Morning Call- 8/16/2004

Mike at Hyscience links to a post in Amil Imani about “Islam & the Iranian Dilemma.” Here’s a snippet:

Since its inception fourteen hundred years ago, Islam has been at war with the people of this planet. Millions of people have been literally butchered with the sword of Islam.

Some may argue that all religions at one point in time have committed crimes against humanity. That may be so, but none of the existing world religions’ foundation has been based upon shedding the blood of its innocent conquered “victims.”

Islam lives, breathes and grows on blood. Once we take away this red element from Islam, Islam will vanish completely. Islam cannot possibly live in the hearts and minds of its believers. Islam needs to shed the blood of the infidels, meaning all non-Muslims. Islam is about world domination. Fear of pain and punishment for non-conformism is part of being a Muslim.

It’s compelling reading but I found a premmise in one parargraph that I disagree with:

Khomeini, the founder of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, for instance, rallied the people under the banner of democracy. All along his support for democracy was not a commitment of an honest man, but a ruse. As soon as he gathered the reins of power, Khomeini went after the “Useful Idiots” of his time with vengeance. These best children of Iran, having been thoroughly deceived and used by the crafty phony populist-religionist, had to flee the country to avoid the fate of tens of thousands who were imprisoned or executed by the double-crossing “imam Khomeini.”

I can’t accept the premise that Khomeini was the founder of the Iranian Revolution. That legacy belongs to Jimmy Carter.

I mean, when liberaloids get something right.

An example appears today in the Editorial section of a bastion of Lefty zaniness, the Raleigh News & Observer, “… and speaking of regs.” They published the editorial just to trash Republicans but this time they accidentally nailed it:

The Bush era has been for businesses of all kinds sort of like a rebirth of the “free love” movement of the 1960s. Anything goes. Leave us alone. Let us prosper any way we can. Regulation? Oppressive and inhibiting. Oversight by government? Aw … why do you guys always want to spoil the party?

But just as some of those flower children of days gone by now have regrets about their era, and adopt a considerably more strict attitude toward their own children, so it appears that even some traditionally pro-business advocates are having second thoughts about the nation’s free-wheeling economy.

For one thing, some of the wheels have come off. The hazards in some imports from China. Contaminated food.

All these things may not be the result of a lack of regulation, or an easy-going attitude about enforcing the regulations that do exist, but as The Wall Street Journal reports, various business interests are a little worried that if the White House changes parties — and perhaps even if it doesn’t — they’re in for a round of tougher regulation. And in fact, some industries that might have resisted more rules in the past, grocery stores and toy stores to name two, are now thinking that better controls maybe wouldn’t be all that bad. They may even be thinking of liability in the courts.

Federal regulation, and state regulation as well, doesn’t have to be onerous, as industries typically claim it is, for those operating in good faith. The idea behind regulations is prevention — finding that airline safety glitch before there is a catastrophe, rooting out bad spinach before someone gets sick.

Problems on a variety of fronts signal it’s time that the pendulum was put in motion again — and yes, for a time, it may have to stay on the side of tougher and better rules.

There’s nothing more disgusting than libertarian assholes who think that if you leave businesses alone they will act responsibly. Business executives are people; If one finds a way to cheat, they all have to cheat or go out of business. Why is that such a hard concept for libertarians like Larry Kudlow to grasp.

I just went over to Anti-Idiotarian because I noticed a post titled Security, Security, Security in my sidebar aggregator. It turned out the article, by DJ Allyn, is about the current beta version of WordPress, ver. 2.5-RC3. (RC3 means Release Candidate 3).

I was surprised to see Allyn’s description of what’s in the new version because I’ve been testing it at 7 test sites on three different hosts and his description is unlike what I’m working with. He claims the developers have re-written the “core” of WP but that’s completely false. They have re-written the administrative panel (Dashboard) which has very little to do with the “core.”

WP’s “core” is the “loop.” The core of WP is the PHP script interface with the PHP interpreter (translator to HTML); the database interface system (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.); the security system; and maybe the plugin system.

The admin system — (Dashboard) for selecting options and settings — is important but WP’s core could function without it.

In his post Allyn concentrates on three things. He touts security, performance and the much ballyhooed photo galleries. He admits that the latter doesn’t even work in ver. 2.5-RC3 but then blames that failure on his Internet hosting service.

Well, I hate to puncture his balloon but his statement that the blame “is mostly on the host, and not the software…” is slightly problematic because I’ve tried the feature on three separate hosts and it doesn’t work on them either.

He also applauds the new security system. He completely buys into the claims of the developers, but in my 50 years in the IT business I learned it might be a good idea to wait until testing is complete before buying a round for the programmers. I’ll give my opinion on the “improved” security in a couple of years.

That brings me to the third thing he’s so enthusiastic about: the improved performance. I agree that this is an area where WP has traditionally had a serious problem. It was addressed several releases ago by allowing “static pages” and that’s good, but first let me describe the problem.

Above I mentioned the WP “loop.” Well, that’s the process WP goes through to do its thing. If you make a new post, it runs through “the loop” and takes care of the business you requested. If you (or a visitor) request a page, it runs through the loop and presents the page. Unfortunately every visitor imposes about as much load on the server as you do when you put up a new post. Each request to post or to serve up a page triggers WP to run “the loop.” Even when a visitor requests an archived post, WP runs through the loop. That may be OK here, on my site, and perhaps on 90% of all WP sites; A couple thousand iterations per day is no big deal. But on BIG WP sites, running the loop is a nightmare. Even if the site is hit by hundreds of requests within the same minute, WP must run through the loop separately for each request. (Now you know why some sites are slower than molasses.)

Static pages can greatly reduce the server load by eliminating the page building iterations for visitors when nothing has changed since the last time the page was presented. But there’s a problem with static pages. Blog Masters have to remember to set a static page after they make a new post.

A way around that is to implement a caching system that will store and retrieve cached pages instead of running through the loop every time a visitor requests a page. “Caching” saves a snap-shot of pages that were recently viewed and “the loop” only runs when there’s no recent copy available in the cache file.

So the third feature in ver. 2.5-RC3 that Allyn is so excited about is that the developers put in a caching system. That’s great news for high traffic blogs. But you know the Biblical saying about the “Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away?” Well, I don’t think I’ll bless these lords (the developers). In 2.5 they giveth caching but decided to scramble the DB tables; at least the MySQL DB tables. That’s a taketh. What does that mean?

It means, don’t get the idea that you can use phpMyAdmin to download a MySQL DB from a ver. 2.3 (or earlier) installation and move it to ver. 2.5 because you can’t. You’ll need a plugin or some other software to convert the DB file, and even then I wouldn’t bet it’ll work because I haven’t tried it, yet. That’ll have to wait a few hours.

UPDATE:
I tried the AUTO UPGRADE plugin and it correctly translated my old MySQL database tables to the new tables on three test sites with a total of 34 posts. But I’ll need a higher comfort level before I try it on a site with 4,000 posts.

According to various estimates, made over the last 50 years, the Bakken Formation in the Williston Basin contains enough oil to increase America’s reserves by 10X. That’s enough black gold to wean the U.S. off imports from terrorist nations and gives enough time to develop viable alternatives to fossil fuels.

Via American Digest

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

“In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. … Continued…

UPDATE (@ end of post):

Gingrich answers the most important question of the year. This is better than the Fitna video! … The most on point and definitive statement since 9.11.01

Via Abdul @ Hyscience:

Very sobering, highly thought provoking. We really do need to be paying attention to the fact that we are facing a very grave threat: “There are thousands of people around the world that get up every morning actively seeking to destroy the United States.” …

I disagree with one point: It’s not “thousands of people…” It’s millions, and those millions are tolerated (and thereby encouraged) by another billion, and we had better prepare for the cataclysm that is sure to come.

UPDATE:
I’ve listened to the video several times and it is by far the most passionate “speech” I’ve heard on the threat of Islamofascism. The urgency in Newt’s voice is compelling and his impromptu remarks should be heard by everyone that gives a damn.

I added an audio version for folks without broadband.