I'm a geek working as a distance learning specialist for a large corporation.
My "radio station"
(Unfortunately, only works in IE.)
Loading ...This time I followed the directions to delete (almost) all the WordPress files on the server before uploading the new versions. That seems to work much better than overwriting them.
So far I haven’t seen any errors (though the database upgrade page was filled with errors, it also said it was successful at the end). Here’s to nothing cropping up moving forward.
And it even looks like I might be able to keep my theme. Still haven’t messed with the sidebars yet. That’s next.
The Players:
So I’m sitting in my office, writing an email, the entire house quiet, when I hear Mom enter the playroom downstairs and stop short. Then an exclamation: “OH! What are you doing?” When that was repeated for the third time with the same mix of shock, wonderment and distress, I started listening closer. I couldn’t make it all out at first. I heard something about “don’t ever do that” and cleaning the chair. It was when I heard the terms “diaper,” “change,” and “don’t ever” all in the same sentence that I quickly went downstairs. Here’s what I saw:
Little Mommy with an eyes-wide look of “what happened? How did this go wrong?” on her face as Mom leads her slowly, carefully, away from her little chair. The chair is sitting next to the changing station, where Stinky is laying, legs splayed, bottom uncovered, except for some brown and white streaks (”I put cream on her!” Little Mommy was heard to say proudly). On the chair is… well… a diaper… and its contents… not at all well contained.
At some point, Stinky had informed Little Mommy that she needed a diaper change. Since Mom was indisposed, they worked together to — the order here is a little fuzzy — take Stinky’s pants off, move the chair to the changing table, climb up (it’s above head level for both of them), take off her diaper, “clean” her off with diaper wipes (also not easy to reach), and apply cream. It’s probably the best teamwork they’ve displayed all day. I’m not sure how the open diaper came to be on the chair. I’m not sure I want to know. I do know that when Mom brought Little Mommy back into the room, the latter was without her shirt, and I heard a lot of hand washing going on.
The diaper’s contents were mercifully solid. There was still a lot of cleanup to be done, on both children and the chair. It should be said that it was an impressive job for a 3-year old. She got almost all the steps covered. She even got the cream. It was the wrong cream, mind you, but she thought of it.
I think we got through to her that she was never allowed to do this again. I think. My poorly hidden laughter may have undermined that message a little…
Technorati Tags: parenting, diapers, growing up, toddlers
Argh.
Well, I finally upgraded WordPress to 2.3.3. I’d been putting it off because I was afraid it would break things. It ended up being worse than I thought.
I’m still finding errors in the upgrade itself! I had to pull old versions of files just to get it complete the upgrade procedure. Who knows what I’m going to find when I finally get through all this.
Most of the plugins I use actually work fine. That’s nice. The one exception is the polls, which I just have to upgrade, but holy cow, that one’s a pain in the neck to upgrade. From the instructions, it looks harder than upgrading WP itself.
And the biggest disappointment…. my theme, Tiga, died. It was already having problems with the previous upgrade but I was able to get past that issue. This time, it’s too much for me to figure out. Seems to be a sidebar widget problem, mostly, but that’s beyond me. It’s a shame, ’cause I really like this theme. Guess I gotta go out on a search. If anyone has suggestions for a nice 3 column theme, I’m all ears. (If I get the polls working, maybe I’ll put up a poll on it… ).
Anyway… lots of transition around here for the foreseeable future. Don’t be surprised if things break, get fixed, go away, come back, and just look plain different.
[Update: HA! At least three hours invested in this so far, and I finally got to the point where I had to restore my previous version. Too much was broken. I couldn't even edit posts. Cut my losses and run. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow night.]
My company has recently shut down all access to YouTube. I get that. I completely believe that many people are using company time and bandwidth to watch all sorts of inappropriate — or just plain time wasting — content. From a certain perspective, I can support the decision to prevent that from happening.
There is a war between those who would waste company time and resources, and those who are tasked with keeping that from happening.
I am collateral damage.
Part of my job within the training department is to research new content creation and distribution technology, and to integrate that into our training delivery. YouTube is, for better or worse, an important part of that responsibility for two main reasons:
Information sharing is critical to my job. The ability to see what other people are doing/have done in converging technology and training is a significant way for me to not keep reinventing the wheel. The ability to create and deliver training products that appeal to a culture steeped in these new technologies requires me to have access to these technologies to begin with.
Is YouTube the only way for me to keep up with these advancements and new ideas? Not at all — far from it, actually. For example, blogs are actually a great source for these ideas as well (in fact, here are two that I keep a sharp eye on: e-Learning Technology, and Corporate e-Learning Strategies and Development). The interesting thing about these blogs, though, is that they frequently use embedded movies from YouTube as examples of what they are talking about! I can’t see these things when I’m inside the Corporate firewall, so I’m missing a significant portion of the point!
I’ve also used YouTube videos to help me explain the concepts and technology that I am trying to ’sell’ internally. For example, I used this video to help me showcase the concept of a wiki - and even embedded it in my wiki for the pilot group to see. Now it’s just an unexplained blank space on the page because the video is blocked.
That same video, and others like it, are also good examples I can use with our training team to help think about other ways to create training that may appeal more to a large portion of our employee base. Now I can’t share those examples anymore.
Collaboration, sharing, and openness - that’s where we should be going. That’s what would help us work more efficiently, smarter, and more effectively, in many cases. But the barriers to doing this at a large organization (like mine) are hard to overcome. There are times it feels like I’m fighting an uphill battle. This is just the latest setback.
Blah.
Technorati Tags: corporate IT policies, YouTube, productivity, training, development, new technologies
H&R Block - Top 10 Overlooked Credits & Deductions
Here’s a good list to keep in mind as we get ready to pony up for Uncle Sam’s benificence.
Technorati Tags: US taxes, april 15th, tax credits, tax deductions, tax preparation
Quitting Facebook just got easier - NY Times
In the wake of the recent controversy, including NY Times coverage, Facebook has announced it will delete users permanently upon request.
The request must be made through a form on a revised Help page:
The updated Facebook help page now includes the question “How do I delete my account?” The answer: “If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, we can take care of this for you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added.”
The entry then says, “If you would like your account deleted, please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page and confirm your request in the text box.”
This is a good move. I’m a bit more comfortable now. Though the generic warning to users to be careful what you post still stands (after all, anyone could copy anything you post), it’s good to know that at least the company I’m trusting with my data isn’t going to be the one using it without my permission.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, privacy
How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free - New York Times (You may need a free account to read that article)
Okay, I’m on Facebook. I have a love/hate relationship with Social Networking sites. I see the benefit they could offer (though I don’t think it’s truly being realized), but I also see huge opportunities for abuse in multiple areas, including security.
There have been commercials lately, targeted at teens, mostly, that warn about the permanancy of things you post online; once you put them out there, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to fully take them down. This is another example of the same principle.
The network is still trying to find a way to monetize its popularity, mostly by allowing marketers access to its wealth of demographic and behavioral information. The retention of old accounts on Facebook’s servers seems like another effort to hold onto — and provide its ad partners with — as much demographic information as possible.
“The thing they offer advertisers is that they can connect to groups of people. I can see why they wouldn’t want to throw away anyone’s information, but there’s a conflict with privacy,” said Alan Burlison, 46, a British software engineer who succeeded in deleting his account only after he complained in the British press, to the country’s Information Commissioner’s Office and to the TRUSTe organization, an online privacy network that has certified Facebook.
While I sympathize that the Facebook wants to get some profit out of their business, and they’re certainly entitled to it, there is NO excuse for them refusing to delete my personal data if I specifically request it to be deleted. Throw up any number of confirmations and warnings you want, but when I get to the end of that string, do it. While I’m on the system, do your best to make money off me (ethically, of course, and with full disclosure of methods), but if I want out, I want out of it all. I’m not signing up to be a member for life.
I’ve been hesitant to truly use my Facebook account, and this just reinforces that feeling.
Technorati Tags: social networking, facebook, invasion of privacy, bad business practices
Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Star Wars: The Clone Wars In Theaters and on Television in 2008
The Clone Wars animated series is going to start with a theatrical release!
This is great news. To be honest, it’ll be a little weird to see an animated Star Wars on the big screen, and it’s a bit of an odd idea to launch a TV show with a theatrical pilot (though there will be a TV pilot, too), but if any franchise can pull that off, it’d be Star Wars.
The theatrical release will be on August 15th, followed by the TV debut on Cartoon Network (and TNT) in the fall.
On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin’s padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains — led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous — are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights. Their exploits lead to the action-packed battles and astonishing new revelations that fill Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
For some nice shots and behind-the-scenes info, check out this starwars.com video.
And for good measure… here’s the Sneak Peek released a while back.
Technorati Tags: Star Wars, Clone Wars, George Lucas, animated tv
Just ran across this free application that could be a replacement for Adobe Captivate, if you’re looking for a quick and dirty way to create software demos. Did I mention it’s free?
Just from the screenshots and incredibly short example, it looks like it does a pretty good job, but isn’t as polished looking as Captivate.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to soon. It might be a decent alternative for Subject Matter Experts who need to do something as a one-off, rather than purchasing a Captivate (or similar tool) license for them.
Technorati Tags: software demonstration, desktop capture, annotation, tech support, training
Okay, this is the most addicting waste of time I’ve come across in quite a while. So far my high score is just short of 170,000. Waaaaaay too much time spent doing it, too. And I’m way below the top 10 scorers. Pathetic.
Check it out! Join me in accomplishing nothing for hours on end!
Technorati Tags: internet games, addicting
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