Testing upgrade to WordPress 5.3.2

I was trying to use some IndieWeb plugins (Post Kinds in particular), but had not updated my site in a while (I think I was at 4.7.13). I took a look at Chris Aldrich’s site and saw that he was using WP version 5.3.2, so I decided to make the jump. Overall, the upgrade went smoothly. I downloaded the Classic Editor plugin so that the Post Kinds plugin would work. I was also prompted to update all of my existing IndieWeb plugins. After all of that, I still had some problems with the Post Kinds plugin for the Read post kind (I was not seeing the Post Properties window within the Admin interface. I started to write a Github issue, but then went back to a Chris Aldrich post on the Post Kinds plugin, and saw that I wrote a comment on that post about this problem. Chris replied with a suggestion to click on the Screen Options tab in the top right hand corner of the admin UI and then check the Response Properties box. That worked!

So far, so good….

Read 2019 End of Year Roundup by

Brad

It’s been a busy Late Autumn but we managed to make a few changes and improvements to the directory in late 2019.800 listings. Yeah we hit 800 with all sorts of new listings added. More to come. I’ve been removing dead listings (dead wood) as I find them, and there has been some. 800 lin…

Boeing still having troubles with 737-MAX

In recent news:

The FAA reinforces that there is no date for the return to service of the 737-MAX aircraft (USA Today)
Boeing announces a temporary pause in 737-MAX production starting January 1, 2019 (USA Today)
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg is fired by the Boeing Board of Directors and current board member David Calhoun is named as CEO effective January 13, 2020 (Chicago Tribune, CNN)

It will be interesting to see the effect of the 737-MAX pause on Boeing’s suppliers. In November 2019, Kelly Ortberg said that Collins Aerospace is seeing improvement in aftermarket sales for other Boeing 737 variants due to the 737-MAX service delays. However, the New York Times also had a followup report in November 2019 on the extent to which Collins Aerospace is involved in MCAS software development and UTC involvement in the angle of attack sensor from Rosemount Aerospace, a UTC company (as well as Collins Aerospace being owned by UTC).

Sounds of the 2019 Christmas season

On Christmas Eve, I read a post by Brad Enslen referring to a post from his archive. It was an excerpt from Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. I then found the home page of the Kings College Lessons and Carols site. This year’s performance was broadcast by BBC Radio 4, and can be heard here. A local copy is also here.

Brad also had a link to several Christmas albums created by users of the Garritan Personal Orchestra software, Here are links to the 10th and 11th editions:

Finally, the Christmas Eve service at our church had prelude music in a jazz style by members of the Resurrection Catholic Parish Music Ministry. The group included Marcus Reynolds on piano, Steve Cook on trumpet, Jeff Akin on drums, and Matt Holmes on bass. The set included “The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme, O Christmas Tree, Silent Night, and What Child is This.

Their performance appears above (live and uncut). Enjoy these sounds of this year’s Christmas season – and Brad, thanks for getting this post started!

Editing Issue in WordPress – Right to Left Text Display

A few weeks ago, I was editing a post in the WordPress Classic Editor (WordPress v4.7.1). After about 2 paragraphs, I accidentally touched the trackpad on my laptop, or did something with the mouse, and then noticed that the editor was behaving strangely. As I was typing, the new text was appearing in a right-to-left direction instead of left-to-right direction.

My first response was to check the INS/DEL keyboard keys, but that did not correct the problem. I then copied the text into a new post, but the problem remained. I then switched from Visual mode to Text mode in the WordPress post editor, and saw some extra elements in the paragraph tag (like the ones in this W3Schools page). When I deleted all the extra text in the paragraph tag, the editor started working as expected again.

Has this ever happened to any other WordPress user? I would like to know….

In The Car Podcast Episode 4 – Home Impeachment Edition

In this episode of the In The Car Podcast, I sing a song about the impeachment of Donald Trump. The episode was recorded on December 19th, but I had to do a little editing and was not able to complete that until today.

The tune is “The Christmas Song” by Robert Wells and Mel Torme, new lyrics are as shown below:

The Impeachment Song

Donald Trump wanted to inflict some pain

On Joe Biden, yes, his biggest foe

A perfect phone call with the head of Ukraine

And a chance to make a quid pro quo

Everybody knew they had to start the coverup

Hide the transcript as quickly as they could

But then a whistleblower stood and spoke up

That Trump did not act like he should

The House began to join the fray

By calling witnesses who had a lot to say

And after several weeks, they found the truth

That everyone was in the loop

And so our country had a choice to make

To figure out what we had to do

For Donald Trump, after solemn debate

It’s impeachment for you

Thoughts on “Preserve This Podcast”

I recently finished listening to the “Preserve This Podcast” podcast series, a five episode podcast on best practices for preserving the files associated with podcasts as well as the final podcast files themselves. I thought the series was excellent, which includes a zine/document supplementing the podcast and good advice on how to put the principles into practice. I also liked how they had some audio clips from conversations with Dave Winer, who created the technology base for podcasting through RSS.

I didn’t have any philosophical disagreements with the podcast until the last episode, when the subject of web hosting was discussed. The host, Molly Schwartz, talked about how many people have the expectation that their podcast show should live forever, and didn’t realize that if they don’t pay for a hosting service (like Libsyn, etc.), or host it themselves on a website, that their files would disappear. How can people in 2019 still have this expectation? (see Site deaths) The idea that someone can create a web asset (podcast, website, video, whatever) for zero cost and still have complete control is ridiculous! I also think that the image of a person producing a podcast as someone who does not have much technical ability is misleading. If you are not just using your phone as a voice recorder, and are recording and editing audio and handling sound equipment, you have to have some technical ability. To emphasize the need to spend effort to make sure that data is not lost, but then put the idea out there that it is too much work to do self-hosting or create a RSS feed is inconsistent at best, trending to stupid at worst. You can only get something for nothing for so long, and you can’t expect to have the functionality of paid services on a free basis.

I also thought that the idea in episode 5 of “having to figure out what to do about PreserveThisPodcast.org” was ludicrous! With all the planning of this series and archiving experts working on the project, how could they have not planned to keep this information beyond the end of the grant funding? Why didn’t the organization who got the grant (Metro New York Library Council) take responsibility for keeping this available? At a minimum, it seems like a terrible plot device to motivate/manipulate podcasters into preserving their work.

Don’t get me wrong on my intent – I love that this podcast was created. As a result, I am starting to think about how to preserve my own web content. The thing that sticks out as inconsistent is perpetuating the idea of expecting something for nothing (free hosting, etc). If that is a person’s expectation when they create something on the web, that person should not shed any tears if it disappears.