It's that time again where one sits back and reviews what one has done... specifically, I mean this very site.
Right now, things seem to be a bit more 'mature' on the front-end and back-end already... at least, those things that I don't lose any sleep to ignore :D
Although I recognize that a lot of things are going right ... just mention here some of the quirks - so that they don't jump out and surprise you.
1) The domain name itself / subdomain / URL http://virtualestate.org/ultrabeast .
Actually, I intended it to be as http://ultrabeast.virtualestate.org
for ease of typing and memory,
and subsequently any URL to be relative to that e.g. http://ultrabeast.virtualestate.org/Blog/General/The-First-Post.html
instead of http://virtualestate.org/ultrabeast/index.php/Blog/General/The-First-Post.html .
However, due to some issue with the subdomain/redirection/Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs, couldn't figure that out yet. So keeping to the current URL format.
2)
(Probably a big issue for a commercial site) : This website breaks crap in IE.
That is, it can't be loaded by IE.
And since I don't know the root cause of it, I don't know how to solve it ..
Anyway, I don't use IE so I don't even know what other sites can't be loaded by IE ...
Due to a contempt for IE in the first place... which this very quirk does not do anything to lessen that opinion.
So, as I have mentioned somewhere else before,
Currently, this site totally breaks IE (I'd be rich if Microsoft was
offering $ for writing something that can bring down their 16-ton giant
browser) Strictly, use MOZILLA FIREFOX.
A clue I have would be IE blocks by default some scripts which are integral to the rendering of this page. What exactly, I don't know. And I could be wrong about that, too...
EDIT : 25 April 2008, 2:28pm
The root cause of the problem has been found !
It's confirmed - my site really does break IE! Woohoo! Eat your heart our, Mr. William Harold Gates III !
That very cool rsGallery2component - automatic photo slideshows- can't be loaded in IE (IE7 and IE6 both!) and causes IE to jam with "Operation Aborted" error message !
Guess IE doesn't support the AJAX scripts needed by the slideshow... and this is IE7, mind you.. the latest incarnation of IE...
Actually, on a regular day, I would just 'screw IE' and don't care about this... but I need to get my domain ready for review by prospective employers.
As such, the post 'Junior, the Ventriloquism Puppet' with the photo slideshow has been marked under 'Registered' privilege. That is, you need to login to even know the existence of such a post, and yes, login and use MOZILLA FIREFOX.
Grrr...
So currently, it's IE compliant, so that no visitor shalt be turneth away and same too for the full extent of the lucrative advertising revenue.
Page Break added before automated slideshow;
please switch to Mozilla Firefox (the ONLY browser)
before clicking for 'Read More'.
As mentioned in a later post I am proud to say that my site breaks IE - you can try to affirm this.
As it is, this page is now reverted to 'Public' view from 'Registered' (hidden) view
Happy surfing and drowning in oodles of cutesyness ~! :3
Preamble:Valuation is an essential part of the decision-making
process. Before entering into any merger decision - indeed, any decision in
any field - the absence of a method of determining the value of
the execution of a decision prevents the making of informed
decisions.
In addition, valuation provides a benchmark for
measurement of results during periodic reviews.
2. Neither party should restrict, or attempt to
restrict, or compel, or attempt to compel, the activities of the other party.
Such action can only result in destruction of the
value sought in the entering of a relationship (as compared relative to
remaining single.)
The fact that the two parties are separate
entities with sovereignity over their internal management decisions and
actions must be recognized. Although this is by no means mandatory, enforcement of one party's will and
demands upon the other, although possible, is a
tenuous and draining process for both.
Bearing in mind the objective of
entering and being in any partnership is to achieve synergistic benefit which exceeds the sum of each pre-merger component taken individually, benchmarks are needed for review and evaluation of the
degree of benefit and value that has been added.
As is common in the decision-making process in any
field, the most straightforward, yet remarkably effective and insightful
benchmark is comparison with the 'do-nothing' scenario. In
which case here, means comparison to the scenario of being single.
What implications does this have?
In practice, there is a high possibility that in
the course of a partnership, one party wishes the other's involvement in taking
up certain projects - in which conflict will occur if latter party has a
difference in opinion and disagrees to involvement. If agreement cannot be
reached, compulsion of the other party is not encouraged if the objective of
continued existence of this partnership is still intended. In which case the proposing
party has to go on with sole execution of the project.
In the case of independent projects, according to the model, this should
bring no more disadvantage to the proposing party than had the
project been carried out by the proposing party as a single,
pre-mergerentity.
However, as for projects that definitely cannot be
carried out through separate effort (e.g. procreation)
- this brings one back to the initial stage of the merger decision - that is
when due diligence should have been carried out according to the Prudent Man
Rule, not only in evaluation of the content and veracity of the stated terms
and conditions as presented - but to identify the possibility of
divergence of management direction later into the partnership . Although
this by no means guarantees total success, a formal framework for the
decision-making process is nevertheless essential, especially in the resolution
of bedroom tussles.
Read something on this subject from a blog elsewhere... and what else could I do but to... (Just couldn't resist.)
And so, may I present to you my...
Quantitative Model of the Valuation of the Synergistic Benefits of Being In A Relationship
Ideally...
Being part of a relationship should offer all the
advantages of singleness, but with the added _option_ of the benefits made
possible by synergy when more than one party come together to pool their
strengths. This is because efficiency and non-duplication of effort and the
usage of resources are then seen in the areas where one or the other happens to
have a higher competency in.
Ergo, savings should be gained in the use of
effort, and other resources.
An 'option' cannot take on a negative value as
holding the possibility, but not the obligation, to engage in something cannot
be worth less than zero.
In effect, the above model implies that the best of
both worlds can be achieved. In other words, one (both, actually) can have their
cake and eat it too.
However: there is an important condition that is
required for the model to work:
In other words, mathematically, as the holder of an
option, the value of being in a relationship should not be less than the value
of being single provided the below assumption is met:
That neither party oblige each other to do
things that they are not willing to do. In other words, before entering into the
transaction - they must ensure that they are mutually satisfied with the terms
of the other party as presented to them at this initial stage - and expect
them as unlikely to change substantially over the course of time, as are written
terms in a contract in any regular business agreement.
In those aspects that the other party has assumed no obligation to comply with, the first party should 'take care of themself' i.e. handle those aspects similar to
what they would do had they remained single.
In which, this situation is no worse off than being
single.
However -- in the areas that one of the parties has
a competitive advantage in and henceforth agreed to take responsibility for, the
handling of this area by the said superior party would bring mutual benefit to
both parties, this is what constitutes the value of entering into such an
agreement.
Take note that the validity of the above model
hinges totally on this single condition.
Recognizing the extent of the terms and obligations right from the initial stage is essential as is recognizing the possibility of non-delivery of certain receivables. In this case, it is a standard prudent measure for the parties to recognize an allowance for non-collection. The parties involved should evaluate whether factoring in this buffer renders the ratification of the agreement infeasible. In which case both are free to assess other options in the market before entering into any obligations.
In practice, enforcement at a later stage to compel one party to comply are invariably difficult to carry out. The possibility of no fast, easy or inexpensive solutions has to be borne in mind.
This being the case, the onus is on the aggrieved
party to have conducted adequate due dilligence when engaged in the
evaluation stage of the suite of benefits as presented for their perusal during
the evaluation period.
Although there may exist a moral and legal right to
receive due compensation for services and benefits implied but not explicitly stated in the
terms at the beginning, in practice, resolution is a long and arduous
process.
As such, for prudence, the principle of 'caveat emptor'
holds.
I would not yet include case studies, sample
scenarios and practical examples here, but these are available upon
request.
(Sigh) Just posting this here to collect my thoughts... and perhaps some kind soul might just have the experience and the answers to the below conundrums.
Hi there...
A number of questions I have here. The first two are related to DS-syndicate as stated in the title, the other is a general Joomla/PHP/permissions question which some might have encountered before. So, hope you can help me out with your experience.
Firstly,
I see that this site ([b]www.goodwebpractices.com[/b]) has an excellent RSS feed page generated (displayed when you click that "RSS Subscribe" link on the upper right part of this page... with the same template and display style as the rest of this site.
Apart from that, the article order there follows exactly the article order of the articles on its main page.
I'm trying to use ds-syndicate on my site too, and the display is really nothing like the way that I would like it to be; that is, how it is for that site.
First of all I can't get the article order same as the article order on my main page (I'm using Blog-Content Section as my main page, I've moved my 'frontpage' to another menu item.)
Secondly, as I said, I'd like the feed to be rendered out using the same template as the rest of my site.. not as how it is now - that generic drab 'subscribe to feeds' page that Firefox shows.
Am I missing something? What are the things that I should do or look out for?
Next: is the URL that I keep on getting from ds-syndicate. Whenever I've done something wrong in creating the feed and I delete it from the administration interface to start over...
The URL I get is inexorably incremented by 1
http://virtualestate.org/ultrabeast/index2.php?option=ds-syndicate&version=1&feed_id=5
as in feed_id=1, then =2, ...
But in feedburner, the URL that I submit is =1 ... how do I force DS-syndicate to just create a certain URL with a certain ID? Even if I deleted all the feeds in the list to start over, I can never get a feed with id=1 .. [i]forever[/i].
On another note, I always seem to have a general problem with the folder permissions from time to time. It seems that whatever is created by Joomla, it's not necessarily that I am the owner - although I would think that I ought to be. Hence sometimes I get the error line like "fopen() failed in xxxx.php on line 74" when using some components that heretofore worked alright.
The implication of that -
On one instance the problem happened this way - rsgallery2 notified that some of its folders are 'unwritable' and I found that I could not even CHMOD those certain folders (rsgallery2 image folder) with joomlaXplorer, FTP or even with my [i]webhost administration cpanel[/i] :eek: !!!
After some headaches from this I realized that I had recently chosen to use PHP 5.2.5 in my cpanel administration, I switched back to "System Default" (PHP 4.4.8) and the problem of the "unwritable and permission unmodifiable rsgallery2 folders" went away... but problem is, then onwards from time to time I will get the error line as told in the paragraph above.
Is there a concept of a 'PHP user' or that kind of thing? I never even realized things would be so un-straightforward when I started out. I noted for those troubled rsgallery2 folders, the 'user/owner' was displayed by joomlaXplorer as [b]'nobody'[/b]. How could that happen?
It could be not so easy to gather what I mentioned here.. If anyone could please take a look at my site. I'm facing a lot of problems from time-to-time specifically with file and folder writable permissions.
http://virtualestate.org/ultrabeast
Any suggestions on other site-related things as well are welcome. I'm still a neophyte.
Thanks guys.
No sooner than I had made a mention somewhere ...
of problems occuring and facing up to the challenge that naturally presents ...
yes, you guessed it.
Specifically, something in the back-end of this
website breaks crap.
What started as appearing as an innocuous
single-line warning notification message with seemingly no ill-effects on the
navigational experience comfort of this site blew up into the dreaded
site downtime upon carrying out the seemingly simple remedial
procedures (which required interpreting some code. Or just faking
it.)
Yes, the Universe is very kwai lan*
one.
Anyway... learnt somethings out of that... as
usual. (Still doesn't change the preference that I'd rather not know and be
blissfully insulated from even knowing that such troubles even
exist)
And so total site downtime grand total was about an
hour...
And yes it must happen during an ungodly
hour.
Managed to solve it quite quickly... and everyone
can go to bed soundly after that...
.............But ssshhh... don't say it so
loudly...
(* Just quietly told between you and me only
arhh... don't tell anyone else, ok? *)
Anyway... it's a rather uncharacteristic morning...
in that I woke up this early...
I burn with Battle Hunger.
Good morning folks! Say hi to me axe !
* How to translate this arhh...
Naughty, mischievious... or sth like
that.
The more you want it to do sth, the more it wants
to do the opposite...
The heretofore heavy rain was still a slight
drizzle now but the skies were quite clear and bright and the weather was
refreshingly cool, the air fresh -
And so began the Long Walk.
It takes about half an hour of fast walking to get
from the urban area to the artificially natural environment
proper.
Surrounded by colourful gardens
this place is like heaven's paradise
and shines like a flower ~
iro toridori no sono ni kakomare atakamo koko
wa
tenkuu no rakuen
hana no you ni kagayakimashou ~
いろ取々の そのに囲まれ あたかも ここは
天空の楽園
花のように輝きましょう
女王湖公園
Jo-ou mizuumi
kouen
Okay, that exact description would
be rather exaggerating it but it was really not bad... really much better than
the last time I visited this place which was more than a few years
ago.
...
恋人と一緒にここに散歩しったら 。。。 きっと 喜んで だなっ 。。
そう思います。
koibito to isshoni koko ni sanpo shittara ... kitto
yorokonde da na ... sou omoimasu.
Shiroi neko ~ !! :3
Neko-san ~ daisuki ~
<3
逃げる !!!
(Nigeru !!!)
From the interior of the park, the back of the Kuala
Lumpur Football Stadium, Hospital Universiti Kuala Lumpur (HUKM), a bridge
connecting to the Bandar Tun Razak STAR LRT ... all can be seen.
When the time came for The Road Home I misjudged my exit point and found myself at the
doorstep of the DBKL (Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur; also affectionately known as
Duit Bagi, Kerja Lulus) Equestrian Unit Training Facility (with
Bandar Sri Permaisuri in sight). Which makes me note that I've never actually
seen a horse in the compound of that site. Which was the brainchild of one Tan
Sri Elyas Omar, if anyone remembers him... he was one of the former mayors of
KL, under his tenure other things were built such as the Cheras Velodrome (with
non-standard flooring material which makes it ineligible to become the venue of
any actual competitive cycling event ... even now, if
I'm not mistaken) and news was that the unpopular Cheras Toll (now expired) was
contracted with a company whose director is an affiliate of his... with
the terms of the contract heavily favouring said company as compared to DBKL or
the government. Okay, just what I happen to remember, I didn't check again...
why bother to when these are just reminiscenes of how things used to be
...
....... ... And in the space of just one paragraph of nostalgic narration (which thankfully insulates you from a literal step-by-step account of the complicated intricacies of walking) entered safely back to my compound at 8:06pm after exactly 2 (two) hours of non-stop walking.
And what do I have to show for such a
prolonged episode of masochistic exercise?
Aches along my inner thighs...
Caused by an extended period of disuse. Latest
news, this cleared up pretty fast, faster than expected, much to my
delight.
Blisters between my toes and on the soles of my
foot...
As any good industrial process it is prudent to
burn in the involved machinery under simulation conditions preferably
as close to the actual environment as one can get.
To identify any issues that may pop up and solve
them before actual production usage.
Speaking about actual conditions, I don't think
that this holds a candle to the real one, though ... speaking about Mount Kinabalu. The highest peak in South-East Asia. Soon. (fanfare please)
Gotta get the right equipment, then, ahead of my next sojourn.
Boots of Speed
Generic sneakers. Adds 30% movement
speed.
My current pair of sneakers that I didn't use - due to the front of this pair of shoes being too
rigid and narrow - which cramps the toes together causing blisters on my previous hikes in Penang (episode to be aired sometime to a PC near you...)
Boots of Travel - an apt name, as I purchased them
for a very reasonable price (in both Malaysian and Japanese terms) on the very
first day of my tour of Hokkaido.
Totally waterproof up to 3cm of water (and by
extension, snow) together with retractable metal spikes (not useful in
Malaysia), guaranteed to keep your feet totally cozy dry and warm, yet
remarkably without the feeling of stuffiness... as proven beyond doubt in
today's walk...
Unfortunately, the flat soles do not provide any
cushioning for my poor feet, making it foolhardy to wear it for extended exercise
usage.
The solution would be to get a pair of Power Treads
instead.
Something with a broad front part, and ample
cushioning for the soles of the feet.
Of course, there were other physical effects as
well - favourable ones.I guess what they say in those
medical journals are true. (At least, the information that managed to
filter its way down to us through the popular media.)
And so... on to the next session of masochism ...
very soon. (Sooner than originally expected.)
