The volume of junk e-mail coming in to random addresses at Soot-n-Smoke.com has grown significnatly over the past few weekes. On the order of three to four thousand messages a day. It's gotten to the point that it's now causing problems with my accounts and my e-mail client.
I'm working on the problem but I may not receive e-mail or may be slow to respond for the next few days.
TTFN
Tom
2004-06-16
2004-06-15
New Digital Camera
I got a new digital camera from my folks as a birthday present.
More photos to come later.
More photos to come later.
2004-04-27
RSS Feeds for Coppermine Photo Galleries
I found and had installed a PHP script that generates an RSS feed for Coppermine Photo Galleries.
However the script has some bugs that prevented the feeds it generated from validating. So I had to debug it a bit. When I got it working on both my site and my Dad's site, I posted the revisions back to the Coppermine support forum where I found the script.
However the script has some bugs that prevented the feeds it generated from validating. So I had to debug it a bit. When I got it working on both my site and my Dad's site, I posted the revisions back to the Coppermine support forum where I found the script.
2004-04-26
My.Yahoo Supports RSS Feeds!!!!
I recently found that Yahoo has support for RSS headlines in beta for their My.Yahoo.com portal service. I've already added this blog and my Dad's blog to my.yahoo page. And I've asked our hosting provider to install a small RSS script to our photo galleries. (I haven't had time yet to update the various templates with XML icons pointing to the feeds.)
2004-04-17
Post Dated Blog Entries
Can you post an entry to a Blogger site that uses a date in the future?
Evidently you can, but they don't show up until the first time you publish your blog after the Change Time & Date.
Evidently you can, but they don't show up until the first time you publish your blog after the Change Time & Date.
Tools for Editing Vaulting Music
Recently I've been using Easy CD-DA Extractor for CD ripping and audio file format conversion. I've also been using GoldWave for editing music files. Finally I've been using Roxio's Creator Classic 6.0 for burning CDs (part of their Easy CD Creator package).
2004-04-12
AVA Board of Directors in about 2006
After much heart felt consideration, I regret to report that I'm just not ready to serve on the AVA Board of Directors. A few factors outside vaulting would make it difficult, at present, for me to commit the additional time and resources that a position on the Board deserves.
Serving on the Board is something that I eventually want to do, as I have many ideas about how we might improve our organization and our sport. And I had been thinking that I might run for a position starting in about 2006.
I sincerely regret that my decision may well leave Region III under-represented in the short term.
Serving on the Board is something that I eventually want to do, as I have many ideas about how we might improve our organization and our sport. And I had been thinking that I might run for a position starting in about 2006.
I sincerely regret that my decision may well leave Region III under-represented in the short term.
2004-04-03
Web Site Overhaul
Now that I've got my Dad's site about done, I'm working to overhaul my web site.
I'm giving up on FrontPage, in part because it doesn't output clean HTML and partly because I can't find my CDs to reinstall it on my desktop computer.
I'm giving up on FrontPage, in part because it doesn't output clean HTML and partly because I can't find my CDs to reinstall it on my desktop computer.
AVA Board of Directors. Me?
Got an e-mail asking if I'd be willing to serve on the AVA's Board of Directors. I'm going to think about it over the weekend.
2004-04-02
2004-03-29
Atom & Blog "Plug-ins"
I've been exploring Weblogs lately. I read a few on a regular basis, generally just from bookmarks. Recently I set up a web log for my Dad, as that seem to be what he really needs as far as a web site. In doing so came across the Atom API. The more I learn about the technology behind weblogs the more it looks like a "power to the people" kind of "killer app" in it's early stages. Much like HTTP and HTML did in the early '90s.
While I'm only tangentially interested in the syndication and aggregation side, I'm very interested in the authoring side. Specifically in developing a few 'blog plug-ins. An example a 'blogger might have a home weather station that reports temp, pressure, humidity, etc. and want to post the local conditions on his weblog. If enough 'bloggers could regularly post this data to their weblogs using a standardized schema it might be of interest to weather researchers and forecasters. This could be easily accomplished with a plug-in that runs on the 'blogger's home PC and regularly posts the local weather conditions and station / location info to the weblog via the Atom API.
Again while I've got numerous ideas, I haven't got as much time to work on them as I'd like. If you're also interested drop me a note.
While I'm only tangentially interested in the syndication and aggregation side, I'm very interested in the authoring side. Specifically in developing a few 'blog plug-ins. An example a 'blogger might have a home weather station that reports temp, pressure, humidity, etc. and want to post the local conditions on his weblog. If enough 'bloggers could regularly post this data to their weblogs using a standardized schema it might be of interest to weather researchers and forecasters. This could be easily accomplished with a plug-in that runs on the 'blogger's home PC and regularly posts the local weather conditions and station / location info to the weblog via the Atom API.
Again while I've got numerous ideas, I haven't got as much time to work on them as I'd like. If you're also interested drop me a note.
2004-03-27
Need a Digital Camera
Now that I've got a Photo Gallery script installed I need to get a digital camera so I have something to post in it.
Dad's new web site
Did a major overhaul of Dad's web site this weekend. First I set Blogger to post to his homepage. Then I got our web hosting company to install a photo gallery script called Copper Mine. Finally I edited the various templates and style sheets to give the site a consistent look and feel.
Vaulting Demo at Small Farm Expo
The Redwing Vaulters presented a half hour demonstration of equestrian vaulting at the WSU Co-op Extension's Small Farm Expo. About 50 people watched 17 vaulters and four coaches perform on both the horse and on the barrel.
2004-02-29
'Blog Plug-ins
I've been thinking on an idea for some blogging tools that would allow the creation of plug-ins.
A good example application might be in the realm of personal health care. With a "nutrition" plug-in, a 'blogger could record and track what they ate and could generate a report they could use with their healthcare professionals to improve their diet.
Another example might be a "bird sighting" plug-in that would help a bird watching blogger track their life-time species list and allow scientific analysis of sighting patterns using web spiders.
This requires a couple of things. First it needs a schema / API that defines how 'blogging tools should capture arbitrary data and/or render some kind of applet that captures the data. Next it requires a systematic way for plug-ins to include tagged data in or with a post. Third it needs tools to crawl through a blog, extract the data posted with a plug-in, aggregate that data and generate some kind of meaningful display of that data.
If you're interested in working on something like this drop me an e-mail.
A good example application might be in the realm of personal health care. With a "nutrition" plug-in, a 'blogger could record and track what they ate and could generate a report they could use with their healthcare professionals to improve their diet.
Another example might be a "bird sighting" plug-in that would help a bird watching blogger track their life-time species list and allow scientific analysis of sighting patterns using web spiders.
This requires a couple of things. First it needs a schema / API that defines how 'blogging tools should capture arbitrary data and/or render some kind of applet that captures the data. Next it requires a systematic way for plug-ins to include tagged data in or with a post. Third it needs tools to crawl through a blog, extract the data posted with a plug-in, aggregate that data and generate some kind of meaningful display of that data.
If you're interested in working on something like this drop me an e-mail.
Family Tech Support Continued...
Well it looks like my Dad managed to more or less get my Mom's new laptop set up and working on their wireless network. Though I expect it will take a couple of hours on the phone with my Mom later this week to pick up the pieces and finish the job.
I could go into a long rant about what went wrong, but let's just leave it that incomplete information sure doesn't help.
I could go into a long rant about what went wrong, but let's just leave it that incomplete information sure doesn't help.
2004-02-28
Vaulting DVDs
I spent an hour or so today talking with Angela, one of the other assistant coaches, about how she might use her TV/video production and grant writing skills to produce a couple of vaulting videos / DVDs.
We talked about the immediate need for an educational DVD with commentary by various judges for coaches and vaulters. We also talked about the need to develop some "B Roll" footage to get more / better TV coverage of Vaulting, and the long term prospects of getting vaulting produced for TV like gymnastics, figure skating and other equestrian sports.
These ideas are some that I've been thinking about for the past few years as an extension of the video taping and digital music stuff I've done.
We talked about the immediate need for an educational DVD with commentary by various judges for coaches and vaulters. We also talked about the need to develop some "B Roll" footage to get more / better TV coverage of Vaulting, and the long term prospects of getting vaulting produced for TV like gymnastics, figure skating and other equestrian sports.
These ideas are some that I've been thinking about for the past few years as an extension of the video taping and digital music stuff I've done.
Family Tech Support
Dad got Mom a new laptop for her birthday, and of course I ended up spending several hours on the phone helping her set it up.
Tom's Tech Support. How can I help you?
Tom's Tech Support. How can I help you?
2004-02-27
Arc Welder
I finally got around to using the hobby arc welder I bought two years ago for $30. I used it to affix the legs back onto the mini-tramp that we use with the vaulters. It was probably the first arch welding I've done in about 20 years. And I never really did enough back then to develop any real skills at it. So my welds weren't particularly pretty. I need to find some hunks of metal that I can practice on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)