We sort of went the wrong direction in our previous upgrade last Fall to Wordpress 2.3. So we’ve brought a previous version of Wordpress back online as well as the previous database. We’re missing our posts since Summer 2007…but we think it’s worth it.
Until we start getting some content online…feel free to take a look at one of Bryan’s endeavors…CMS Report.
Yes…we know. It’s been way too long since we posted on this blog. Karen and I are going to take a step back and see which direction we would like to take LakethatIdea.com. Stay tuned…
Packt, an IT book publisher, announced the beginning of their Open Source Content Management System System Award. The award is meant to “encourage, support, recognize and reward an Open Source Content Management System (CMS)”. Visitors to Packt’s site can nominate their favorite CMS and one of the top five will be selected by a panel of judges. Besides the first place winner being awarded $5000, the second place winner will get $3000 and third place winner will receive $2000.
You’ll want to take note that the CMS you nominate must be part of an open source project. Also, the deadline for nominating your CMS at Packt’s site is September 1, 2006. For more information you’ll need to visit Packt.
We’ve upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress, 2.0.3. This release addresses security issues, bugs, and a few performance enhancements. As you’ll find out when reading the announcement from Wordpress.org…they’ve backported into 2.0.3 a number of security enhancements from the yet to be released Wordpress 2.1.
The latest in the stable 2.0 series, 2.0.3, is now available for download. This is a bug fix and security release, and is recommended for all WordPress users. In addition to an issue that was raised on Bugtraq a few days ago, we?ve also backported a number of security enhancements from 2.1 to further enhance and protect your blog.For the curious, this release includes:
- Small performance enhancements
- Movable Type / Typepad importer fix
- Enclosure (podcasting) fix
- The aforementioned security enhancements (nonces)
Upgrading is fairly simple, just overwrite your old files with the latest from the download. When you go to your admin it will give you a link to update your database.
Karen, my wife, has left me and my two-and-a-half year old son. Are you surprised? Well, before the rumors start-up and Karen’s good reputation goes south…she’s coming back in two weeks. Karen had to do some traveling for work and didn’t have too much of a choice in the matter. Thanks to the cell phone world we live in she has been able to call us each day. All this is require of me is putting Logan on the speaker phone so he is able to brief is Momma on each day’s activities.
Logan and I are spending the time without a woman in the house to make it a man’s world. You can be assured this manly point of view we have adopted for our home will also be noticed here at Like that Idea. For the next two weeks you can expect to see the ideas that only a Dad and son can dream up to be presented here. For now, though Logan and I will have to go. You see, we have been busy doing yard work. We have had a gorgeous weekend here in Sioux Falls, SD and the days have been full of activity that it it finally time for us to rest. Logan is already out on the deck and ready for me to bring out the six pack of fruit juice I promised. By the time we’re done with our drinking, it should become one very wild Sunday evening here at our little bachelor pad.
Oh, and one last thing. Please make sure nobody mentions to Karen about the dirty dishes in the sink. We don’t consider it so much of a guy thing to leave dirty dishes in the sink. No, not at all. Instead, we equate the dirty dishes in the sink as our little science project! Ha, at least Logan and I find humor in that. Ok, everyone have a good work week!
We had great intentions to continue to keep everyone up to date on a new site that we’re building using Drupal, a content management system (CMS). The idea was as we were building the site we intended to write down how we did it so others could learn with us. Well if you look at our Drupal blog here at Like that Idea you would see that we have not had too many posts in the blog. Have we given up on the idea? No hardly, we are just so busy with other projects (including the project of raising a family) that we have had to prioritize and put some of our ideas on the back burner.
I have no doubt the new site focusing on content management systems will eventually be up and running, the question is when and not if it will happen. I suspect that once Drupal 4.7 has been released is when we’ll start working on the site.
In the meantime, We would like to recommend a few places that you can go to learn about Drupal and other content management systems. First, if you haven’t visited the handbooks at Drupal.org lately, you should. A lot of changes have been taking place in the user support documentation at Drupal.org and most of it is for the better. If reading isn’t your thing, Drupal users don’t have to wait for the movie to come out since it is now available at Lullabot. Lullabot is providing both audiocasts and videocasts on a number of Drupal topics. The Lullabot video for managing menus and links with Drupal is very well done.
Last but not least, if you have questions about content management systems and how they can help you build a Website; please consider joining in on the discussions at our sister site, the WebCMS Forum. While most people think of a Web content management system as only Web Portals, the forum also considers software that manages blogs, forums, shopping carts, and photo-galleries to also be variations of a CMS. WebCMS Forum is still a new site, but it already has had a promising start with a number of users of different CMS applications coming together to share their ideas and learning from others. I already find myself learning a lot and like to see it when those from Drupal, Mambo, Joomla, e107, SMF, phpBB, Wordpress, osCommerce, and others express their thoughts and ideas on their own favorite CMS. I you don’t mind me saying it, I hope you like that forum!
When I first considered placing advertisements on my site I found a blog, called Subnixus, that catered toward how best to market your site on the Internet. I have enjoyed visiting Subnixus the past several months and I’ve honestly learned a lot. I recommend the place for someone trying to figure how they can make money by placing advertisement on their own site. However on a recent visit I was disappointed to read an article titled, Why College is a Scam. Maybe I’m showing my age, but I continue to be disturbed with so many young adults not understanding the true values of education. I am even more disturbed with the lack of students seeking an education in science, math, computer science, and engineering . From time to time, I have seen the following facts from a study on the state of engineering degrees in the United States posted in newspapers and magazine articles:
Last year alone, more than 600,000 engineers graduated from higher education institutions in China. In India, this number was 350,000. In the United States there were roughly 70,000 and the number of engineering degrees awarded in the United States is down 20 percent from the peak year of 1985.
American society as a whole seems to have less value for education, especially in the sciences and math, than when I was growing up. Maybe I’m more sensitive to these numbers since I am a scientist at heart…but isn’t anyone else disturbed by this trend? While I feel there should have been something done to help reverse this downward spiral sooner, I’m glad at least that it is finally getting some some well deserved attention by the Bush administration.
Getting back to the article posted on Subnixus, the following is my open letter to the author:
My primary field is in the sciences for which there is no other way to get that education without going through at least a four-year degree program. Recently, I went the opposite direction going for a Master’s Degree in Administration with the focus on Information Systems. Yes, there were times I was sitting in the classroom and thinking, is this really worth it? How could I not consider whether the degree was worth the price I was paying. A price that was not only paid in money for tuition but also my time. During those years I missed so many Sunday football games and evenings with the family. Quite frankly, when I was pursuing a higher education I felt I was living the life of a monk with little connection to the “real world”.
Did I feel at times the university was just taking my money with the only reward at the end being a piece of paper? Yes, I did. Did my employer give me a penny more after receiving my piece of paper? No they didn’t. Was it tempting to call it quits? Yes it was. Do I regret that I spent my time in college and completing my degree? No, I don’t have a single regret and here is why. If there is only one thing that is important in life to assure success it is to “follow though” and finish what you started. Completing what you set out to do is what separates the winners and the losers.
And no, I’m not implying the author of the article is a loser. He seems to me to be very intelligent and as I’ve said, I learned a lot from his writings. I am however saying that I have deep respect for the roommate that he writes about. A roommate that despite having someone tell her that “she has been brainwashed” is still sticking it out and working on her degree. I too had roommates that dropped out and were living the good life while I pursued my studies. I know what she is going through. It’s not easy to eat Ramen Noodles when your roommate is eating steak.
One of my former roommates thought I was crazy when the first job I accepted after getting my degree. The job paid less than what he when he worked at the local video store. Fast forward twenty years to the present and I promise you he does not carry the same attitude. It is a struggle to realize you didn’t finish what you started when you had the time, energy, and youth to do it. Regardless of the money he may or may not be making now, he regrets not following through and finishing his degree. As a good friend of his, I too regret he didn’t finish what he started.
Respecfully,