30 June 2008

Three underrated WordPress plugins

John Lamansky asked WordPress bloggers to name three underrated plugins and Jeff Chandler picked up the idea at Weblog Tools Collection.

I mentioned two plugins at John’s site which I don’t think get as much attention as they deserve.

1) Javascript in posts: WordPress allows Javascript in php files and sidebar widgets, but not in posts. This plugin fixes that.

2) Exclude pages: This plugin adds a checkbox, “include this page in menus”, which is checked by default. If you uncheck it, the page will not appear in any listings of pages (which includes, and is usually limited to, your page navigation menus. And I will add:

3) My page order: Saves a lot of time if you want pages to appear in alphabetical order. It gives you control over how pages are displayed in menus.

Tags: blogs, WordPress
1 comment


29 June 2008

rssHugger worth a look

I’m taking a look at rssHugger.

It claims to be a unique website that aims to bring bloggers and readers together.

“rssHugger aims to provide blog owners with a unique easy-to-use way to promote their blogs by sending them traffic, building backlinks for search engine optimisation, as well as attracting new rss subscribers if the content is interesting to the reader.

“rssHugger aims to help visitors be able to easily find blogs that write about subjects they are interested in.

“If the visitors find a blog that they had not previously heard about, they can easily add it to their RSS readers or bookmark it.”

It sounds good in theory. By writing about the service here I become entitled to a free listing for this site. That offer is available to anyone.

As with other such tools I’ll monitor its impact on site traffic with interest.

Tags: internet, Technology
0 comments


29 June 2008

The mysteries of packaging

I sometimes wonder at the amount of packaging for certain products and how they are packaged.

Why do they stuff paper inside shoes, for example?

Why do plastic fruit juice containers have seals which need to be prised open with a crowbar?

Why do electronic gadgets come in plastic that’s harder to open than a medieval maiden’s chastity belt?

Why does a tub of noodles, which is adequately sealed, have an extra layer of flimsy plastic to get through before you can remove the cover?

Sigh.

Tags: consumer, life, society
0 comments


28 June 2008

Umpherston Sinkhole

We visited the Umpherston Sinkhole in Mount Gambier today. Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone, the sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating its “sunken garden” effect.

Originally beautified by James Umpherston around 1886, it is open at all times. Apparently possums are active after dusk.

It probably looks more spectacular in spring/summer and in twilight, but even on a winter’s day it’s an impressive sight.

Tags: Mount Gambier
0 comments


27 June 2008

Russian romance

I’ve been propositioned by a Russian woman, or at least someone claiming to be Russian.

“Olesya” sent me an email claiming to have discovered my details “in a site of acquaintances”. Google is very good at screening spam, but this one seems to have slipped through.

Olesya’s email address was (random=made up by me) pw”random”@auto-industrial.pt, hardly personal. Read more »

Tags: scam
2 comments


27 June 2008

Children have a right to care

Sometimes it seems the older I get the more passionate I become about certain issues. That contradicts my general tendency to take things as they come. Not much surprises me any more.

However, at the age of 41 I’m passionate about child protection. It bothers me that society turns a blind eye to child abuse.

Abuse is not just sexual, which is evil. Abuse is also emotional, physical, material, financial. It’s about love, care, attention and opportunity. Read more »

Tags: opinion, soapbox
0 comments


27 June 2008

Share market volatility

I’m glad I don’t currently own shares. We sold them all to buy our house in Mount Gambier. The sale price was between 10 and 20 percent off the peak but still yielded a profit.

I checked the prices today after hearing the Dow dropped 358 points overnight.

Westpac is down to $20.69, WA Newspapers to $8.48 and Cortona Resources to 18 cents. Most people won’t have heard of Cortona.

They have some prospective gold tenements near Kalgoorlie and in New South Wales. The price climbed above 50 cents at one stage. I sold them in the low 40s and mid 30s.

If I hadn’t sold them we wouldn’t have been able to afford the house deposit.

As far as I know there is no reason for the price decline other than sentiment and people wanting cash.

Tags: Australia, finance
0 comments


27 June 2008

Québec anniversary musical tribute

A copy of the CD Québec arrived at the office last week. I normally pass music samples onto the young reporters, but this looked like something I might enjoy listening to.

That turned out to be the case. Released by Putumayo World Music, Québec is a 400th anniversary celebration in honor of the French-speaking Canadian city.

Drawn from a variety of influences such as French and Celtic folk traditions and European pop, Québécois music includes a broad range of sounds and styles. Yet despite its potential broad international appeal, the music of Québec is not very well known to people outside of the province. Through this enchanting selection of songs, Putumayo seeks to introduce listeners to the compelling music of this unique province.

Read more »

Tags: Canada, culture, entertainment, music
0 comments


25 June 2008

Service disruption

For the first time in about three years I’ve been with Site5 there have been significant service disruptions to my web hosting.

This site and my others have been down for most of the past 48 hours.

Tuesday is usually one of my best for visits on this site, but numbers were down 45 percent his week compared with last week.

Apologies to anyone who was locked out on trying to visit here in the past two days.

Tags: internet
0 comments


25 June 2008

South Australia’s top 10 destinations

I was talking to a tourism industry leader last week and asked him what was South Australia’s top tourism attraction for interstate and international visitors outside Adelaide.

He surprised me by saying it was Kangaroo Island. I thought it should have been Mount Gambier’s Blue Lake, but imagined it was probably the Barossa Valley.

He said there were studies to confirm Kangaroo Island’s status. I’ve been there (admittedly for work) but didn’t think it was anything special. Read more »

Tags: south australia, travel
3 comments