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I’ll Bet A Leather Loveseat Memphis Won’t Win It

HT to SayUncle on this one.

It is officially gambling for a furniture store to run a promotion that relieves customers of their obligation to pay for furniture purchased at their store if Memphis wins the NCAA Championship.

First of all, I can’t see how this promotion is actually gambling since the furniture would have the same market value the customer paid whether Memphis wins or not.

However, I can also see how anything like this would be considered gambling/wagering, since the State has not found a way to monopolize these type promotions (yet).

Oh, and even if Memphis wins, feel free to come pick up the love seat any time.

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Firefox 2.0.0.13 and WordPress

Is anyone else having an issue viewing their WordPress dashboard in Firefox 2.0.0.13? My blogs themselves look ok, but the dashboard is wack. No? Just me?

That may be the last time I take a brand new upgrade.

***UPDATE***

“Wack”= CSS doesn’t seem to be working at all, but only on the WP Dashboard

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5 Reasons Bret Michaels is the Lamest “Rock Star” Ever

I remember when Poison was really popular and I thought they were stupid. Mostly it was because I was a music snob back then, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that they just sucked.

Now we have Rock Of Love, and honestly, I can think of 5 people I know right now who are happily married with kids and regular ol’ jobs who act more like rock stars than Bret Michaels. I had Easter dinner with one of them (and our wives and kids) today, after he got out of church of course. I think we drank enough beer between the two of us–it had to have been 2/3 of a six pack–to put Bret Michaels under the table.

I wouldn’t let this guy be a roadie for a boy band–that’s how NOT Rock Star he is. I submit these five facts for your consideration.

1. He has no game. None.

You would think that after having girls throw themselves at him for a few years in the 80s, he would at least have a little bit of game. This guy couldn’t close the deal with a drunk hooker if he had crapped crack and pissed liquid gold. Want to see a rock star with game? Give me (of course) David Lee Roth.

2. No famous chicks want to date him

Bret Michaels is was actually attractive and famous. And he has to go on TV to get a date? Yeah he dated Pam Anderson (briefly) a long time ago. But my guess is she quickly figured out how lame he is (see reason #1). Even the girl he picked in the first season of Rock of Love didn’t want to date him, presumably because she was already too famous for him. Let me have Rick Ocasek, Billie Joel, Adam Clayton, Kid Rock or instead of this Z-list supporter.

3. He took the girls’ exes to Dave and Busters.

Not a trip into and out of Vegas for a weekend on a private jet. Not a run to Tijuana to get tats and piercings. Not even a strip club. Dave and Freaking Busters. Give me a break. Nothing says ROCK STAR like sipping on a Zima and playing a few rounds of skee-ball and wak-a-mole, huh? Instead, I’d like to see Lemmy from Motorhead. Yeah, he’s not going to go anywhere uber-cool either, but he’ll show up with a cooler full of beer and keep you up all night telling funny stories and burning you with cigarettes when he catches you nodding off. That’s cool.

4. He’s never fought a member of Motley Crue

As far as I know, he hasn’t fought anybody. Not that I’m surprised by that–I’m sure he’d get his ass kicked. But he’s never even shown that he has a temper. I’ve never heard stories of dressing rooms being trashed. I’ve never heard of him being thrown out of a club for breaking a beer bottle across someone’s face. Nothing. I’d so much rather watch this show with Tommy Lee, who I bet has fought EVERY member of Motley Crue at one time or another.

5. He’s never been to rehab

That’s actually admirable for people like me and you. But this is America. We like our rock stars either troubled, violent, or toxic–preferably all three. He’s never even been drunk on his own “party like a rock star” TV show. I have a feeling that “Bret’s Brew” is actually 30% lemonade, 30% fruit punch, 30% Sprite and 10% soda water. Give me Bret’s old guitar player, C.C. DeVille in his place. At least there’s a chance he’ll go on a coke binge and freak out right in front of our eyes.

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The Real Immigration Problem

I don’t talk about the whole “illegal immigration” thing here much, mostly because I think it’s a tad bit silly.  But now I’ve got my own immigration story.

800 miles ($100 in fuel and two days of driving) to Memphis and back

$400 (paid before the price was increased) fee to fill out a lot of paperwork

A 15 minute interview, and viola…

The Missus is going to get her citizenship.  Hopefully the swearing in will be a little closer than Memphis.  Of course we’re happy, but there are a couple of things about the whole process that I don’t understand.

She’s been here for 23 years.  She went to college here.  She went to grad school here.  She’s taught in multiple school systems.  She’s been paying taxes for a looooong time.  No problem letting her mold young minds, but issue her a passport?  No way.

Her brother has been here for 25 years.  He also went to college and grad school here.  He’s paid taxes (and lots of them) for a long time too, and he was only recently able to get his green card so that he isn’t dependent on the work visa he had through his current employer.  They both speak without accents and write English better than most people who were born here.

Why do people like this have to drive 800 miles for 15 minute interviews and practically beg to be a part of this country?  Isn’t there some way we could use ball bearings or lasers or computers or something to determine who is here (legally) and being productive?  Wouldn’t it be easier to simply send them a letter:

“Hey!  We noticed that you work your ass off, don’t break the law, and are a perfect example of everything that is right with this country.  We also noticed that you haven’t joined officially, and we’d really like for you too.  Get back to us and let’s make this happen–we’d love to have you!”

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If You’re Thinking of Upgrading WordPress

I’ve already received a few emails about this upgrade and keeping WordPress up to date.  First off, the one I posted about last night is a release candidate.  I wouldn’t recommend upgrading until the new version is actually released.  Example, I’m not running it on this blog yet, only on a development blog.

When you do decide to upgrade, I recommend Keith Dsouza‘s Automatic Upgrade plugin.  It handles all the steps required for a manual upgrade for you.  Make sure you make a donation to his cause…this plugin will save you a lot of time and hassle.  It even downloads the newest version of WP for you and prompts you when upgrades are available.

I do recommend doing a manual upgrade at least one time in your life.  First of all, it will help you appreciate the automatic plugin.  Secondly, you’ll be able to handle any odd issues that arise later on if you’ve been through the process.  To upgrade manually, there are a few basic steps.  WordPress has published a full article on upgrading, but here are the high points:

1.  Back up all of your files

2.  Back up your database (there’s a plugin for that too)

3.  Download the version of WP you want to install

4.  Disable your plugins

5.  The only potentially tricky part.  FTP the files for the new version to your server…DO NOT upload the wp-content directory and overwrite the one that you already have.  It contains your theme, plugins, and images.  If you overwrite it they’ll all be gone…good thing you backed them up, right?  Only overwrite the contents of the wp-content folder–not the actual folders within it.  In most cases, this is an index.php file that does nothing, and you won’t be in any trouble if you avoid the wp-content folder altogether.   You also don’t want to overwrite your wp-config.php file either.  This shouldn’t be a problem because there usually isn’t one that ships with the new version, but double check.

6.  Go to www.yoursite.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php.  I’m assuming here that your blog is located in your root directory.  If it isn’t, just adjust the URL.  For example, if your blog is in the /blog directory you’d point your browser to  www.yoursite.com/blog/wp-admin/upgrade.php

7.  This will handle all of the upgrades and prompt you if there is a database upgrade (there is for 2.5).  It’s a very simple process and tells you when you’re finished.

8.  Reactivate your plugins

9.  You’re done!

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Using WordPress 2.5 RC1

As promised, I got WP 2.5 RC1 installed on a development blog tonight and have spent a little time clicking through it.  I’ll say this much already for the Dashboard…it is much better organized for authors/editors/administrators.  The big tabs on the left are for “Write”, “Manage”, “Design” (formerly “Presentation”), and “Comments”.  Anything else you’d want to do is still there–“Settings”, “Plugins”, “Users”, but located off to the right side.  There are two BIG and OBVIOUS buttons for “Write a New Page” and “Write a New Post”, presumably the two things most users want to do the most.

As far as new features go, the big one that jumped out at me immediately is the ability to add more than one photo at a time.  Same goes for other media like video and audio.  Also you don’t have to scroll down on a laptop to Publish anymore.   “Publish Status” has been moved to the top right of the posting area.  Kinda of nice, since you have to do this every time you post, huh?

I’d like the ability to change the order of the components/widgets/whatchamacallits on the posting page to reorganize them if I’d like.  I have some fields that are added with plugins that I use quite often, while others that ship with WordPress I hardly use at all.  The ability to resize the posting area is nice as well.

Speaking of plugins, I haven’t seen any issues yet.  The (manual) upgrade went fine as well.  As far as nuts and bolts go, 2.5 gives you the ability to manage tags just like you manage categories, links, posts, and pages.  But I’d have to say that my favorite new feature or enhancement is in the theme management section.  The editor is larger, and the theme pages are listed along with the appropriate .php file names.  Same goes for the plugin editor.

Overall, I’m pretty happy.  Haven’t done any comparisons with the actual database yet.  Too tired and will pick at it tomorrow.

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WordPress 2.5 Release Candidate

I am very crunched for time today, but tonight I’ll be installing the WordPress 2.5 release candidate on one of my development blogs and give a full report here–probably posted sometime very early Wednesday morning.

WordPress new interface

From the looks of it, the “Write” section of the dashboard is going to be much improved, which is an area I think WP needed to catch up.  Another great new feature will be a customizable dashboard.  Both of these features should work out great for me, as one of my projects in the works is going to have scores of contributers.  I want to be able to limit the functionality for experienced users and also make it as easy as possible for newer users to contribute using WordPress.

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Coffee Isn’t Cool, But Coffee Drinkers Are

SVD has a new vice virtue.

In fact, I found out that I can order exactly the whimpy coffee I like. It’s called a Miesto (sp?) (MEE-sto). That regular coffee with a shot of 2%(steamed) and a shot of chocolate.

I say give him a month and he’ll be drinking double espressos just so he can feel normal be regular in the mornings.

As I was making an espresso the other day (having an espresso machine at home is the measure of a true junky), I remarked to The Missus that I feel like I’m living out a scene on Intervention, measuring out the finely ground black powder by the spoonful into my little contraption and cooking it up to get my fix.

Sure, I feel a little guilty that I use small baby bottles to catch the stuff as it drips out of the machine, but not guilty enough to stop.

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Charlie Don’t Blog

But NewsComa does, and she has a post about some new evidence coming to light against Manson after all these years, along with something lots of us can relate to…

I remember thinking, when I was a child, that this was one of the most terrifying things I’d ever heard of. I was a child but our country was horrified and mesmerized with Manson and the family.

I’m a little younger than Coma and wasn’t yet born when the Manson family went on their spree, but I was fascinated with him/them as a middle schooler. I read Helter Skelter, and it scared the crap out of me. The scariest things these freaks did was go on “creepy-crawly missions” where they’d get into people’s houses and creep around…not hurting anyone or taking anything, just crawling around. Eeek!

I’m sure I worried my parents (or maybe not) because I read a bunch of books about Manson and Hitler at that time. At least I was reading, right? The killing part isn’t what drew me in though–it was the ability these guys had to persuade people to go along with their absolute lunacy. I mean, Manson wasn’t even at the Tate/LaBianca homes when the murders took place, but he had those people so far under his control that he didn’t have to be there for them to kill for him. Freaky.

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And One More Thing…

I have just one last thing to say about the axing of Volunteer Voters.

If you own a big chunk of any media market (television, print, web) and it isn’t profitable, you have a management problem. The solution to your problem isn’t to let go of the reigns and crash the cart. The solution to your problem is to hand the reigns over to someone who knows how to steer the cart.

Give me Volunteer Voters’ traffic. I’ll cash some fat checks. But as I said before, I can’t see how a regional media outlet could afford to give up such a valuable asset whether it is profitable as a standalone entity or not.