I was astounded to find that my B2 Links package was downloaded 102 times last month, more than three times a day!
I’ve been getting the hang of Blogshares, and I am well on my way to my first half million!
Weekend
I’ve had a good time this weekend. We’ve had very good weather which is nice for a change (unlike my prediction). Jan had got the paddling pool out. Jamie and Megan spent most of Saturday afternoon in it. We also had a barbecue on Saturday.
On Sunday, Jamie and I went swimming with Steve and Megan. In the afternoon it was back in the paddling pool for the girls. But only briefly, the weather had cooled a little.
In other news, my Mum is feeling a lot better, still getting lots of bed rest and thoroughly bored with it.
I’ve managed to get a bit of WordPress work done this weekend.
Oops. This shouldn’t happen
A fundamental rule of developing web applications is “Never trust data from the outside world.”
If you don’t this can happen. Read it carefully.
In case they take it down or fix it I’ve taken a snapshot
Thanks to Donncha for the link.
The WordPress Team Grows
The WordPress team has grown!
We now have Donncha O’Caoimh and Mike Tremoulet on board. More coming soon.
Work, Cycling, and The Weather
Work
Another odd week this week. I think I’ve only done about half a day of scheduled work. The rest has been investigating production problems, fixing bugs, etc. All unplanned work.
Cycling
I’ve been cycling to and from Stockport train station this week as I mentioned earlier. Tonight I decided to cycle home from the office without going on the train. I didn’t really struggle, but it did seem to be hard work. It’s only 7.5 miles and it took me about 45 minutes (which is quicker than the train/bus trip I used to take), I was pretty tired at the end (the last quarter mile is uphill!), but I recovered (heart rate down, breathing normal) much quicker than I thought I would. All very encouraging. I shall try to do the same again all next week.
Weather
It’s been too hot in the office again today. I didn’t get my thermometer out, but I seemed to be much warmer than the 86 degrees we had on Wednesday. Outside it had apparently been a glorious sunny day. Jamie spent most of it outdoors today. I expect it will go away for the weekend!
Non-smoking
Almost five days now with neither cigarettes or nicotine patches. (edit: After 28 days with nicotine patches). It has been harder the last two days. I think the 72 hours to rid your body of nicotine must be true. I did notice a difference after that time. Basically, the two times when I have been getting cravings anyway; 11am and after midnight have been particularly bad the last two days. I think I am seeing the appetite suppression effect of smoking going away. I keep thinking I am really hungry! Of course only at times when its convenient to snack! I’ve been (mostly) resisting; having fruit when I can.
Over all I think I’ve done well. I’ve still got some way to go though.
Technology Bits
Some interesting stories from the last few days:
PlayStation turns supercomputer
“Scientists at the US National Center for Supercomputing Applications, (NCSA) have linked together 70 PlayStation 2s to find out how good they are at crunching numbers.”
“It has long been assumed that affordable, high-speed broadband to every area of the UK was only possible via road-disrupting cable laying or expensive satellite connections.
But a company called SkyLinc has found a happy medium in base stations, floating 1.5km above the surface of the Earth on balloons, or tethered aerostats as they are more technically known.
The technology behind the idea has been around for years, with the US Government operating several such aerostats as communication systems on its borders and the US military employing similar technology for about 50 years.”
Bubbles Oust Viruses in Therapy
” Dutch researchers say they’ve demonstrated a way to use sound waves to manipulate microscopic bubbles so that they can deliver DNA and other molecules, such as drugs, into cells.
The goal is to reduce geneticists’ reliance on viruses to deliver genes into cells, a method that has led to cancers in some patients, said University of Twente physicist Claus-Dieter Ohl.”
WordPress 0.7 Released!
The first (non-beta) version of WordPress has been released! The official announcement is on the WordPress Development blog.
* Texturize – So good it’ll make your quotes curl.
* WordPress Links – A link manager with everything you’d expect, from Weblogs.com support to a handy bookmarklet. Manage as many blogrolls as you like, and have complete control over their display.
* XHTML 1.1 – WordPress is compliant with XHTML standards up to 1.1, though by default it sends a 1.0 document type to avoid compatibility issues.
* Highly Intelligent Line Breaks – Occasionally called “nl2br on steroids,” this brand new function adds line breaks except where there is already a block level tag or another line break.
* New Administration Interface – We’ve made it as simple as possible, and no more. Everything has been restructured from the ground up in a fully compliant XHTML/CSS interface.
* Manual Excerpts – This allows you to hand craft summaries of your posts to appear in your RSS feed and other places.
* New Default Templates – Again we’ve streamlined theses with the latest in simple, easy-to-understand standard XHTML and CSS. And not a CSS hack in sight.
* Plus numerous behind the scenes code clean-ups, making this release faster and more stable than ever.
Check the WordPress Download Page to get it.
