This is a joke. He’s had plenty of time over the last year to look over GOP ideas on heatlhcare reform but instead has taken every opportunity he can to lie about those ideas, suggesting that the GOP had no ideas, no plans, effectively painting them as not just the party of no ideas … but the party of “no.” His desire to host a broadcast of a “meeting of the Democrat and Republican minds” is just one more example of his penchant for exhibiting style and symbolism over substance.
Ouch! That had to hurt.
I like Sister Toldjah's blog. It's a Wordpress site, and I'm drooling over some of the cool features she's incorporated. I especially like the "Hot Headlines" in the upper left corner.
ReplyDeleteFrom her footer, I see that her site is professionally designed, but I think between all of us we could construct a very awesome blog on Wordpress, using our own skills and imagination.
I'd like to know what you all think. We're quickly outgrowing the capabilities of blogspot, but moving is a big step. Vikram?
The truth often does hurt. In the end, this will be nothing more than a basis for Barry and the Dems to push the same tired agenda they are already pushing, with a side dish of 'but we looked at their ideas, too!'
ReplyDeleteI vote yes, lady red. It will be nice to have more features and as long as Vikram is willing...
ReplyDeleteI too think we should move on from blogspot. There will be ongoing costs for a hosted website so we need to make sure that the one we get can do everything we want.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't like the look of Sister Toldjah's site, it's too busy for me. But I'm sure we could come up with something we all like.
Now, where is Vikram, haven't seen him in a while...
I'll hit a tip jar, if that's a possibility. I'd be happy to contribute to site costs.
ReplyDeleteThe webhosting shouldn't cost more than ten bucks a month or so. I'm more concerned with the technical skill. Hey, I'm game if you guys are!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to do anything until we hear from Vikram, though. He's been doing a lot of research....Matt, have you talked to him lately?
I agree, move on. Depending on Vikram of course. Though from reading around I think if we got our collective heads together we could figure it all out or most of it anyway. And for sure I'd be willing to hit the tip jar.
ReplyDeleteOne question though... is the domain name available? It likely is but you never know.
.
That's a good question, Luther. Geez, I hope no one grabbed our cool blog name!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as one who has not yet mastered this site, (and in fact does not really deserve to be on the masthead), let me say that whatever you all want is fine with me.
ReplyDeleteDon't do a search as yet Lady Red. There are 'players' out there who monitor what is being searched for and register it right away. Then they get folks to buy it from them, at a much higher price of course. Vikram would probably know how to proceed on that front.
ReplyDeleteJust a suggestion here, since I am invited but not yet nested, so to speak:
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's fun to have copious features, et al...the objective is "ideas", no? If so, consider that Althouse still uses Blogger. Ideas don't need a lot of features, just clarity of expression.
My two cents.
"just clarity of expression."
ReplyDeleteSpoil sport. :)
That's a good point though. I think the main thing for me would be more flexibility in comments. Numbered comments for one, ability to pull block-quotes another. Other features that don't come to mind right now. On the main page pretty much the same thing, flexibility of layout, not just doo-dads and gee-gaws necessarily.
"not just doo-dads and gee-gaws necessarily"
ReplyDeleteOoo, I love it when you tech speak.
Hahahaha... yeah.
ReplyDeleteWell, Ari said clarity of expression didn't he? :)
.
I'm not sure "ideas" is the 100% ideal.
ReplyDeleteI vote for at least 25% silly, fun, informative, crazy, bitchin' stuff...
" for at least 25% silly, fun, informative, crazy, bitchin' stuff..."
ReplyDeleteI'll see your 25 and bump it five. Need those those things to keep from going insane.
Yes, I vote for the silly, fun, informative, crazy, bitchin' stuff too!
ReplyDeleteIt's not healthy to talk about serious issues ALL of the time. We need to kick our shoes off and put our feet up on the coffee table, and sip a chilled glass of white wine while we're playing with our doo-dads and gee-gaws.
Hmm. Why does that sound X-rated? :))
LOL lady red!
ReplyDelete"Why does that sound X-rated?"
ReplyDeleteHey! I didn't say that. :)
vikram is checking in. will respond shortly.
ReplyDeleteOK. So. I made myself a WordPress.com blog just to fart around and see what was possible.
ReplyDeleteSadly, it doesn't seem possible to duplicate the "Recent Comments" feature we have here.
I can read in an RSS feed into the sidebar, and I can even read in the comments feed into the sidebar - this is the basic hack that I have for the custom widget I wrote for our current blog.
But I can't customize the javascript code in Wordpress - it will read in the entire text - not just the first few words. Since I've been known to post thousand word comments, this could be a problem.
Or, you can use the pre-defined "Recent Comments" widget - which I've also done lower down in the sidebar - but that doesn't give any text from the comments at all - just the stupid "Gravatar" and a link. So you know who said something, but no clue what.
Again, it comes down to the ability to hack javascript, which blogspot gives you for free, and which wordpress.com doesn't give you at all, not even as an upgrade.
Now, two quick things which I should explain more but can't right this second:
1) While we could get a host and run our own copy of WordPress (and hack it to our hearts content), I'm a bit leery of doing this - but haven't ruled it out completely.
2) The cool features of Sister Toldja's blog are mostly RSS feed based - variations on stuff I've already done for the "Recent Comments". We could do more of these. We should (and can, per Luther's input) move to a three column layout to give more room for the sidebars.
Finally, as to my own preference / observation, I'm really astonished at how lame existing comment systems are, and I think the fluidity of the conversation is a big function of how the comment system works. Blogspot at least gives the possibility of plugging in a different comment system; running a plugin for Wordpress definitely entails getting a hosting solution. It's not the money, it's the hassle (backups, spam, etc). But this may be easier than I'm fearing; it bears checking into.
A few more thoughts:
ReplyDelete+ As you can see from snooping around my test blog at wordpress.com, you can post images in comments, and block quotes work.
- there is absolutely no formatting help, you have to enter all HTML markup yourself, AND,
- you have to do it perfectly, the first try - no preview, and no real way to delete the comment unless you have admin privs, and even then it's a PITA - you have to navigate to the comments admin page; there's no handy "trash this" icon.
Great research lewy! Perhaps we'd be better off keeping what we have, and work on adding features we like?
ReplyDeleteI think a three column layout would be nice. Also, check this out. It might be an easy way to add emoticons to comments.
There must be code out there somewhere for a "reply" feature for comments. Okay everyone...retrieve your google-foo from the shelf, dust it off, and let's get busy!
lady red - I like the emoticons - if I dig through it there is enough there for me to go on I think to get our very own palate / coding system - but also, if you notice, that site has comment numbering. And comment numbering + comment posting hooks in javascript (as demonstrated by the emoticons) might enable a kind of primitive "reply" system - maybe...
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing: I've never done site admin. I'm spoiled and lazy that way. My experience is in hardware architecture and chip implementation. Most of the software I've written has been aimed at modeling computer systems. Recently I've gotten much more into software but I respect the sys admin role enough to know that I'm going to face something of a learning curve there.
I'm pretty sure I can get a wordpress blog running with a decent comment system plugin (and given the availability of "free trials" on some hosting sites I think I will do just that as an experiment). It's _keeping_ it running over the long run that I'm worried about.
What _is_ within my competency is to learn to hack javascript. There is a ton that can be done in javascript, and blogger makes that accessible - not so in wordpress.com.
Also, I've been playing around I've found it's possible to use jquery within a blogger blog. What's jquery? Basically a huge collection of javascript subroutines which are very powerful. I bought a book on jquery over the weekend. So there's more possibilities there.
general announcement - our domain name has been secured. If you go to theconservativekitchentable.com now, you'll see a standard parking page. But it's ours.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Woo-hoo! Thank you lewy!!!
ReplyDeleteLewy, how about hosting or at least software solutions other than Wordpress? Take a look here at the comments... I love the nesting part, where you can reply to a particular comment... plus they're nicely numbered. But, no preview on the main page. No block quotes, etc.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the software is no longer supported. I'm just throwing ideas out there for comparison and ideas.
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Great work Lewy, thanks for all your efforts. And great news about the name!
ReplyDeleteJust to add my two cents worth: Lewy knows MUCH MUCH MUCH more than I do about things HTML and related. Therefore I have not commented much. Opinion-wise, I agree with the general flow of the conversation.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need to do is come to a consensus on what we really want, what we are willing to live with, what we don't want, and what we are not willing to live with. I doubt we will be able to get everything we want -- we are going to have to find a nice balance.
If there is an advantage to going with a "provider only" system vs. a "plug and play" system, I am willing to cover some or all of the cost (I'd have to see what it is before I can be more definitive). If we do go with a "provider only," we are going to need Lewy, er, a technical person to handle the coding side of it. If we do that, I think we should offer Lewy, er, that technical person payment of some sort. Speaking of which, Lewy, what do we owe you for registering the domain name?
Matt, the domain is all of ten bucks for the year - no worries.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to serve the process by being candid about what I have experience with, and what I don't.
And at the risk of being utterly blunt, what I have an interest in learning, and what I don't.
There's a nice confluence in my life right now where knowing some basic web / social media stuff is very useful in several different ways; I don't need any compensation because I fully expect the things that I'm learning to help me professionally.
I'm also looking to - as Wayne Gretzky put it - skate to where the puck will be, as opposed to where it is.
IMHO the "puck" is moving away from basic hosting towards cloud hosting. The "treadmill" of stuff you need to learn and do to run a little server safely seems ever expanding, and a link from a popular blog - an "Instalanche", for instance - is indistinguishable from a Denial of Service attack - it will swamp your little server.
Cloud hosting services that comprehend the needs of the "long tail" of small blogs and sites will prevail - mostly low traffic, occasionally very high traffic, with service plans that deal reasonably with these contingencies.
I'm interested in services like Media Temple, but they're too expensive for us right now... I expect they will become cheaper.
The bottom line is that I see the interface between the folks who take care of the machines and sell services based on those machines, and the people who develop and maintain web applications (including blogs), that interface is changing and evolving - evolving away from an interface based on traditional machine characteristics, towards on where the capabilities of the datacenter as a whole are parceled out in a fine grained, fine tuned manner.
For now I'm exploring the limits of features that can be added with javascript and blogger template hacks; even if we end up moving to another platform this will be valuable knowledge. I might have some stuff to show in a week or three, depending.
On the crazy side I have an urge to write a commenting plugin from scratch, running on Google App Engine. This may not be so crazy; Java is the language I know best, I've done database and XML stuff before, and deploying on App Engine is easier than maintaining your own server. Finally, App Engine is something I've identified as something I _need_ to learn. That said, this is at least a few months away.
I should also mention - "cloud computing" is no panacea - I totally agree with that; there are a number of risks and dangers.
ReplyDeleteIt is, however, the way the "puck" is moving in the tech world.
Good thoghts all, Lewy. Though I'm less confident than you on the future of cloud computing. But then I'm an old fart.
ReplyDeleteI'll leave Vikram to Vikram.
Thanks for all the research and for getting our domain name, lewy.
ReplyDeleteI good with whatever you all decide on but I also like to be able to play with our doo-dads and gee-gaws.
(tee hee)
Seriously though, we need some fun stuff to stay sane, eh?
I really miss being able to post graphics in the comments box. But it's worth it to have current comments on the sidebar.
Thanks again, Vikram :-)
I good?
ReplyDeleteSheesh.
Well... you are, aren't you. :)
ReplyDeleteThough I wish now that I had never said...
ReplyDelete"doo-dads and gee-gaws."
1. As I don't think I got my meaning across.
2. As I'm really just a small meek voice here in actuality. Glad that Lady Red started the whole thing and whatever it turns out being I'll like it no matter.
"Well... you are, aren't you. :)"
ReplyDeleteLol!
I good. I just no good at spelink and grammer.
"I just no good at spelink and grammer"... there are times when that is of no matter. :)
ReplyDeleteSorry if I'm being too 'fresh'. You TCKT women do that to me. :)
Damn it, I can't think of the proper acronyms just now. Maybe an acronym dictionary on the sidebar would help.
EWOK, Luther (originally "elderly women of the Kitchen but we quickly changed that to ELEGANT women, etc.!)
ReplyDeleteHey, better a fresh Luther than a stale one, eh?
(tee hee, I'm just teasing you)
"ELEGANT women"
ReplyDeleteAh... how the hell could I forget that.
Yeah, I reckon on stale versus fresh. I'm certainly beyond the 'sell by' date. Now I sound like some retired guy living in Miami and having his first internet chat. :)
our domain name has been secured.
ReplyDeleteWell that was very nice of you, lewy! :OD