June 2024

There were 9 posts published in June 2024 (this is page 1 of 1).

On the topic of link blogs

There has been some discussion somewhere this month on the Web (although I cannot find it) of a new list or lists of link blogs. Brad Enslen noted earlier this month that he sees an increase of link blogs in his browsing. The discussion of linkblogging has been going on for a long time (see this Manton Reece post form 2016 as an example). I have a Links category on my website (with its own feed), so someone could follow just the links part of my website. It is a simple thing to do in WordPress, as well as most other weblog tools. I also have another blogging tool (MyStatusTool) which is well suited to use as a link blog and has its own feed. Of course, there are many ways to publish a link blog, but why not get started with the tools you have at hand? As I mentioned recently, we have great tools available – let’s create some great things! Start blogging those links!

Setting up WAMPServer in 2024

I have been wanting to try out some PHP scripts for posting to a WordPress site from Ton Ziljstra (see this page for background, and Github for the scripts). I have a Windows laptop, and have used WAMPServer on previous laptops so I chose WAMPServer (download link). I noticed when I started the install that there were some Visual C redistributable files that also needed to be installed (see bottom of this page). I went to the release page and downloaded the latest version of the VisualCppRedist_AIO_x86_x64.exe file and used “Run as administrator”. This application installs multiple Visual C executables, and takes several minutes to run. You will see a number of windows open and close. When the installation is complete, there will be a splash screen indicating that all files have been installed. This might be behind other windows, so you may want to monitor the icons in the Windows app tray at the bottom of the screen to see if there is an icon you do not recognize.

After the installation, it is a good idea to run this checking app to confirm that all necessary Visual C files were installed correctly. I ran this and got the message that all installations were complete.

Finally, I started the WampServer installation by double-clicking on the EXE file I had downloaded to start. There are several checkboxes to accept the license, the location of the installation, and default web browser and text editor, but other than that, the installation took care of itself. To start WAMPServer, I double-clicked on the icon on my desktop (titled “Wampserver”). A splash screen indicated after 10-15 seconds that all server apps were running. I started Microsoft Edge and typed “localhost” in the address text, and got a “main screen” with info on the server apps.

Finally, I wanted to create a test PHP file to make sure that the server was working. I used the following source code:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<body>

<?php

echo “My first PHP script!”;

?>

</body>

</html>

I saved this in a file called hello.php, and copied it to C:\wamp64\www. I then changed the URL in the browser to localhost/hello.php and saw the following:

Now I am ready to start doing some PHP testing!

What If Trump Wins? An interactive web site

Via an email newsletter from Eileen Flanagan, I found out about an interactive web site/story called “What If Trump Wins?”. The site presents the reader with an initial choice – does Trump or Biden win the 2024 US presidential election? Based on what result the reader selects, a set of other choices is presented along with a narrative to fit the initial choice. From the main site page, there are 25 different ways that the story ends. The site was created by the advocacy group Choose Democracy, which conducted trainings back in the 2020 election to prepare for a coup or possible electoral mischief. I “played” the story both ways (first selecting Trump and following the suggested actions, then selecting Biden and following different actions). I thought it was an excellent “thought exercise” which provided insight in how a Trump presidency might unfold. Check it out – it might make you want to get involved in the election!

Book Review: “Rules for Resistance: Advice from Around the Globe for the Age of Trump”

I found this book on the shelves near the John Kasich book I posted about yesterday. The book is a series of essays published in 2017 and edited by David Cole, National Legal Director for the ACLU. The essays are grouped by region (Europe, The Middle East, Asia, Latin America) as well as a set of essays for journalists covering Trump, and the text of the original guide from the group Indivisible.

Each essay passes on ideas/anecdotes on specific authoritarian rulers in those regions. The ones about Silvio Berlusconi in Italy were most like Trump, but essays about Orban, Modi, and Putin were also instructive. There were two essays that I thought had the best advice for opposing Trump:

Luigi Zingales, in an op-ed for the New York Times in November 2016 (paywall, also mostly available in this Washington Examiner post), compares Trump and Berlusconi, showing many similarities. He points out that Hillary Clinton spent so much time explaining how bad Trump was that she did not often promote her own ideas, to make the positive case for voting for her. Also, the news media focused too much on Trump’s behavior. The only two politicians who beat Berlusconi did it by focusing on the issues, not Berlusconi’s character. From this, I would say that the Democratic Party is trying to point out the significant policy differences between Trump and Biden, but I think there is still too much focus on Trump’s character flaws. Also, the hope that the indictments against Trump would keep him out of the election have gone for naught, so he will have to be beaten at the ballot box.

Anne Applebaum wrote an article for the Washington Post (also available on her site) called “Advice from Europe for Anti-Trump Protesters”, in which she made some observations about elections in Poland in 2015 and 2016. A radical populist party was able to win with a minority of voters, and started to destroy democratic and state institutions. Poles took to the streets in huge demonstrations. Here is a summary of her reflections on the value of those protests (her sub-headings from the article):

  • Protest makes people feel better
  • Protest, if not carefully targeted, achieves little
  • Protests inspire conspiracy theorists
  • Politics matter more than protests
  • In a democracy, real change comes through politics, political parties and elections

I think her final two sentences sum up her advice well:

“Protesting might make you feel better, it might win a few battles, and it might attract attention. I’m sorry if you are angry at “the establishment”, but you need to work for it and within it if you want it to change.”

https://www.anneapplebaum.com/2016/11/16/advice-from-europe-for-anti-trump-protesters/

Book review: “It’s Up To Us” by John Kasich

The subtitle of this book is “Ten Little Ways We Can Bring About Big Change”. I stumbled across this while researching some other posts, and recently got it from the library. It draws on John Kasich’s career in public service (governor of Ohio, US presidential candidate, US House rep). The ten ways are as follows:

  • Start A Movement – Mentions the women’s suffragist movement, environmental issues (think Greta Thunberg) among others
  • Be The Change Where You Live – Look at what you can do in your neighborhood, your town or city
  • Be Prepared To Walk A Lonely Road – Being out in front of an issue can bring criticism, but accept that you might need to stand out from the crowd before you can find a way to convince others to stand beside you
  • Slow Down – Take time to stop, look and breathe
  • Bounce Back – After a setback, we need to be able to dust ourselves off and get back in the mix
  • Love Thy Neighbor – Work to lift people up, not tear people down
  • Get Out Of Your Silo – Take in other points of view and stay open to revisiting your own points of view
  • Put Yourself In Someone Else’s Shoes – Understand other people’s struggles
  • Spend Time Examining Your Eternal Destiny – Think about the footprints you are leaving behind
  • Know That You Are Made Special – Live each day in a way that lets your individuality shine through

I thought this was an uplifting book, if short on specifics, worth a read if you are thinking about activism.