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Clean URLs for PmWiki at 110mb.com

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I was tired of using the URL http://freelaw.110mb.com/index.php/Project/AboutUs for the description page of The Free Law Project. I looked at the PmWiki cookbook recipe for cleaner URLs and I realized after some bit of experimenting that you can remove the index.php string from the URL by setting $ScriptUrl to the URL of your PmWiki folder. Since for Free Law I put the PmWiki installation at the root folder, that means that my $ScriptUrl would be equal to "http://freelaw.110mb.com/". The pages at the site now can be accessed as http://freelaw.110mb.com/?n=Group.Page

One side effect: offline browsers like BackStreet Browser seems to be unable to parse the URL properly :-)

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How to disable workspace loading by BackStreet Browser

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Situation: You (pirate you!) were downloading a big site using BackStreet Browser when your computer died (karma!). When you were able to revive your PC and run BackStreet Browser (because you haven't learned anything) it won't load and will just tell you "Loading workspace..." If you try to cancel the loading, the program will just quit.

Fix: Go to the directory where the program is installed (usually in C:\Program Files\BackStreet Browser) and look for a file named backstreet.wsb. Then delete that file. All information about your pirating downloading projects will be deleted, although the data downloaded so far will still be there.

Lesson: Please don't download other sites without the webmaster's permission.

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How to link directly to specific quotes in web pages

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Situation: You need to provide a colleague with a cite from a webpage, but the webpage is 20 pages long (if printed), and finding the actual quote may take some time.

Thanks to Citebite.com, this service is now actually available.

You just go to their site, copy the cite from the source page, copy also the URL, and click on the "Make Citebite" button, and voila, you are provided with a deep link to the actual cite (meaning: you will give those URLs to your colleagues, and they will go straight to the actual quote, highlighted).

Here's a screenshot of myself using the service:

You can go to the actual cite here: http://pages.citebite.com/f9p8t9khtwj

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How to add a login-logout tab in PmWiki

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First of all, you must have AuthUser enabled.

Then, in Site.PageActions, add the following:

(:if authid:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=logout accesskey='$[ak_logout]'% [[{*$FullName}?action=logout | $[logout] ]]
(:ifend:)
(:if ! authid:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=login accesskey='$[ak_login]'% [[{*$FullName}?action=login | $[login] ]]
(:ifend:)
Now when the user is not authenticated (not logged in), he will see a "login" tab; if he is logged in, he will see "logout".

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Note on Google

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For those of us who are still using Google despite that company's Tagalista policy, here's a trick to avoid going to google.com.ph which is the Tagalista site.

Instead of typing google.com, use google.com/ncr

Using that code will ignore Google's check on your IP, and you will not be redirected to the .ph site even if you are in the Philippines.

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How to add a Wikipedia-like tab to PmWiki pages

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PmWiki is a flat-file-based wiki solution, which simply means you don't need MySQL to make it work. Very good if you don't want to pay for hosting, since there are only very few free hosts which offer free MySQL, and even the best which I had tried (x10hosting.com) has a lot of downtimes.

I wanted to use Wikipedia-like functions in the wiki installation for The Free Law Project, a project to create a free database of Philippine laws. Unfortunately I cannot use MediaWiki because of I don't have free MySQL. PmWiki is perfect for the job.

Tonight I've just added a "discussion" tab to the Monobook skin for PmWiki. The steps are the following:

1. Replace your Site.PageActions page with this:

* %item class=browse accesskey='$[ak_view]'%[[{*$FullName} | $[article] ]]
* %item class=discuss accesskey=$[ak_edit]%[[[[Comments.{$Group}-{$Name}?action=view | $[discussion] ]]
* %item rel=nofollow class=edit accesskey='$[ak_edit]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=edit | $[edit] ]]
* %item rel=nofollow class=diff accesskey='$[ak_history]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=diff | $[history] ]]
(:if auth upload:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=upload accesskey='$[ak_attach]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=upload | $[attachments] ]]
(:if:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=print accesskey='$[ak_print]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=print | $[print] ]]


2. Replace Comments.PageActions with this:

* %item class=back accesskey=$[ak_back]%[[@3@{$Name}@3@}?action=view | $[article] ]]
* %item class=browse accesskey=$[ak_view]%[[{$FullName} | $[discussion] ]]
* %item rel=nofollow class=edit accesskey='$[ak_edit]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=edit | $[edit] ]]
* %item rel=nofollow class=diff accesskey='$[ak_history]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=diff | $[history] ]]
(:if auth upload:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=upload accesskey='$[ak_attach]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=upload | $[attachments] ]]
(:if:)
* %item rel=nofollow class=print accesskey='$[ak_print]'%[[{*$FullName}?action=print | $[print] ]]


3. Put the following line at the last part of your config.php:

Markup("@3@", "inline", "/@3@(.*?)@3@/e", 'str_replace("-",".","$1")');


You can see the thing at work here: http://freelaw.110mb.com

When you click on the "discussion" tab, you are taken to the discussion page. Clicking on the "edit" link while at the article view will take you to the wikitext of the article; clicking on the same link while at the discussion view will take you to the wikitext of the comment page.

Soon: adding a comment box, like the one in Wikipedia.

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How Friendster almost cost me my relationship with my girlfriend

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Friendster.com is a great service for discovering what's happening to the lives of your former classmates and old friends. Just last week a friend of mine from high school found my profile on Friendster. We became connected right away.

While I was browsing her photos, I accidentally clicked on the "Grab photo" link and her photo appeared in my profile. I went to my profile and deleted her photo. Friendster replies that the photo is already deleted, but when somebody opens my profile, he/she will see the girl's grabbed photo.

One of those people who happen to see that was my girlfriend. Needless to say, she went blah-blah over the simple thing, and I had to explain to her that the girl is not in any way more special to me than her.

Moral of the story: Friendster is a good service, but it has bugs. :)

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New features of PBWiki

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According to an email I've received from PBWiki.com, they will be implementing these three features this coming 2008:
  • Single user logins - each student will have their own unique password.
  • Page level access - control which pages students can edit or read.
  • Page folders to organize the wiki.
If you are looking for a wiki for educators, PBWiki (for PeanutButterWiki) is the way to go. You can try your own personal wiki by signing up at PBWiki.com (and it's easy!). You can even hide the wiki while you're testing the features. PBWiki's advantage lie in the easy markup it is using, therefore greatly lowering down the required learning curve.

While you are PBWiki.com, visit my PBWiki sites:


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How to transfer PmWiki files between two 110mb.com accounts

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I needed to transfer my Free Law pages from my personal site to its own account at 110mb.com. Unfortunately, 110mb does not allow files with extensions it doesn't recognize, and PmWiki uses them in its wiki.d folder. After failing to do the trick via Python, I discovered PmWiki's ImportText recipe.

The steps:
  1. Download import.php
  2. Upload import.php to your cookbook directory
  3. Put these lines in your config.php file:

    # importation
    # load script
    include_once('cookbook/import.php');
    # check for new files at least once per 3 minutes (3x60)
    $ImportFreq = 180;

  4. Create a folder named "import" on the same level as your pmwiki.php file
  5. Transfer via ftp your converted pmwiki files.
That's it. Give it a few minutes and the script will automatically create the necessary files in wiki.db

Note: Files from your old wiki.db cannot just be put into your "import" folder for two reasons: 110mb.com will not allow those extensions, and import.php won't recognize those files anyway. You need the following script to convert those files to wikitext with .txt extension:


import os, re, urllib2
for fname in os.listdir(os.getcwd()):
f = open(fname)
t = f.read()
l = re.search("text=([^$]*?)time=", t)
try:
wikitext = urllib2.unquote(l.group(1))
except AttributeError:
continue
f2 = open(fname+".txt", 'w')
f2.write(wikitext)
f.close()
f2.close()


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How to rename files using Python (hard-coded)

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Task: append ".txt" to files of any extension (in preparation for PmWiki's ImportText recipe):
import os
for fname in os.listdir(os.getcwd()):
os.rename(fname, fname+".txt")


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How to auto upload pages to a PmWiki site

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Still on the heels of the my project to create a free Philippine law database :-) I started with the name LEX LIBERA, but realized sooner that there might be potential conflict with the established LEX LIBRIS from CD Asia Technologies. So I decided to change the name from LEX LIBERA to The Free Law Project and transferred the files from wiki-site.com (which does not allow free backing up files) to my own subdomain at 110mb.com (http://islesv.110mb.com). I also learned about PmWiki, which uses flat files and therefore does not require MySQL (which I am unwilling and unable to pay).

After I reviewed 110mb.com's Terms of Use, I realized that I could in fact create another account, so I created an account for Free Law, downloaded the Free Law files from islesv.110mb.com via FTP, and uploaded them to freelaw.110mb.com. Everything except the most important bits: the contents of wiki.d itself. 110mb.com does not allow uploading of files with unregistered extensions.

I could not just upload all those files one-by-one manually. There are almost a hundred of them. So I tried to create a Python script. I disabled the password protection to the site to make it simpler. Here is the script:
import os, re
from urllib2 import *
from ClientForm import ParseResponse

dirlist = os.listdir("wiki.d")
for fname in dirlist:
f = open("wiki.d/" + fname)
t = f.read()
l = re.search("text=([^$]*?)time=", t)
wikitext = unquote(l.group(1))
print wikitext
url = "http://path/to/my/wiki/" + fname + "?action=edit"
response = urlopen(url)
forms = ParseResponse(response)
form = forms[1]
form["text"] = wikitext
urlopen(form.click())
I tried firing the script at 110mb.com only to realize that I receive "Connection refused" errors. Bummer.

UPDATE: I am investigating PmWiki's ImportText recipe to check if I can make use of it.

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Answers to SUBUKAN_ANG_UTAK.XLS

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As promised I am giving out the answers to the SUBUKAN_ANG_UTAK.XLS spreadsheet game. This is only if you are already frustrated with the answers; even though a lot of stupid ideas are used in this game, it is still a good game to play, and I encourage you to take a look.

How did I obtain these answers? Of course, I tried my best to answer the game religiously. Really :) Actually, you can can go to the third spreadsheet in the game (the one labeled SHEETIII). The answers are in column I, the praises in column J, and the insults in column K. All of these columns are protected. If you are using Excel 2003, you can highlight Column I to see the answers. If you are using Calc of OpenOffice.org (because you know that piracy is illegal) you cannot see the answers if you highlight column I, but you can see individual answers if you click on a cell (the answer will appear in the formula bar). In both cases, you can do a copy and paste to another application (say Notepad) after you highlight the column.

Here are the answers:
1. pang uri
2. payo
3. halili
4. patalastas
5. dulog
6. sining
7. lakip
8. may akda
9. kapakanan
10. pisara
11. aklat
12. gusali
13. subalit
14. talaarawan
15. bisiro
16. kalinga
17. tisa
18. lungsod
19. orasan
20. alapaap
21. hambing
22. sipi
23. adwana
24. panganib
25. kagawaran
26. talasalitaan
27. pawi
28. sabik
29. huwad
30. tampok
31. pananalapi
32. ningas
33. banyaga
34. pandiwari
35. luntian
36. pangkat
37. panauhin
38. gabay
39. kalahati
40. bulwagan
41. kasaysayan
42. tahanan
43. sawikain
44. panuto
45. panayam
46. paanyaya
47. ligaya
48. hukom
49. katarungan
50. karunungan
51. wika
52. dahon
53. liham
54. antas
55. buhay
56. talaan
57. banggit
58. karayom
59. pahayagan
60. pulong
61. kwaderno
62. pangngalan
63. tanggapan
64. palad
65. liwasan
66. talulot
67. larawan
68. unlapi
69. limbag
70. panghalip
71. lalawigan
72. parihaba
73. pamatid uhaw
74. ulat
75. saliksik
76. tugma
77. laso
78. ilog
79. silid
80. paaralan
81. agham
82. alkantarilya
83. lipunan
84. awit
85. gagamba
86. parisukat
87. tanghalan
88. pamantayan
89. himpilan
90. mungkahi
91. pagsusulit
92. kagamitan
93. kabuuan
94. katotohanan
95. subok
96. burol
97. pandiwa
98. digmaan
99. bulong
100. durungawan

The answers are also available as an XLS file: SUBUKAN_ANG_UTAK_ANSWERS.XLS

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Bobo! Tungaw!

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You might already have received via email a copy of the SUBUKAN_ANG_UTAK.XLS, a game designed to test your "Filipino" skills. The idea is simple: you are provided with an English word and you try to give the equivalent "Filipino" word. If you get the correct equivalent you get one point and praise; if not, you get no point and an insult. What is correct is determined by the idiot brain of whoever created this cheap spreadsheet game.

Idea-wise, the creator has three mistakes:
1. He is implying that one's competency in a language can be judged by asking him for the translation of 100 words into the language.
2. He is implying that you are not a Filipino if you cannot give the equivalent Filipino word.
3. What he is calling as Filipino is actually Tagalog, and not the national language.

Content-wise, it should be the creator who should be called bobo and tungaw:
1. PANG-URI and MAY-AKDA should be spelled with a hyphen.
2. BUT can also be translated into NGUNIT, and VALLEY as LAMBAK.
3. TALAARAWAN, according to my Filipino teacher back in college, is diary, not calendar. I would rather believe my teacher because he was a professor. If he's mistaken, that would indicate the quality of our Filipino professors.
4. TALASALITAAN is GLOSSARY, not DICTIONARY.
5. ERASE in most contexts should be translated into BURA, and not PAWI; the latter only applies to feelings.
6. SABIK is not EXCITE. "Nasasabik ako sa iyo" = "I'm excited of you"? Hello!

One thing I've learned from the game is that SEWERAGE is translated as ALKANTARILYA.

I'll upload later the answers.

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Switch rest?

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I'm relatively a newbie when it comes to networking, but I could not just believe some "expert's" assertion that switches need rest, and that if you don't have Internet access, you just allow the switch to rest. Resetting the switch do sometimes help, but resting it... Hmm...

This came up when the sysad in my workplace came up to me and accused me of causing the problem with the Internet connection. While it was true that I connected the switch uplink directly to my PC's NIC, it was simply because signals were not getting through the switch.

But then again, I am the newbie, and he is the expert, so let's just say he's correct :)

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Switch uplink

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Just a note: Many switches require that port 8 (in an 8-port switch) or port 16 (in a 16-port switch) be the uplink port, where the incoming Internet connection should go through. I've just realized today that there are some switches which can automatically detect where the incoming Internet connection is coming from, and use that port as the uplink port.

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How to convert to PDF

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If you are using OpenOffice.org, producing a PDF file from Writer (the document editor) is as simple as clicking on File and selecting "Export as PDF..."

If you are not using OpenOffice.org, try using the print function of your editor and look for a PDF printer. Most Internet cafes use PrimoPDF because it's free. If there's none, you must ask help from someone who can install program on the computer; ask him to download PrimoPDF and install it.

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Why PDF format?

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Here are some advantages of the Adobe PDF format for sharing of documents:
  1. Smaller files. When downloading from the Internet, smaller files means faster download, and less online time for just the download.
  2. Free reader. PDF documents can be read with a free viewer/reader, unlike other formats which may require those who download a copy of a commercial program.
  3. Cross-platform compatibility. PDF files can be read whether from Linux or Windows or Mac.
  4. Security versus viruses. PDF files are more secure against viruses than say Microsoft Word documents.
  5. Security versus tampering. PDF files can be produced so it is password-protected, even for reading.
  6. Viewable within most web browsers. Users may opt to view the PDF file on the browser instead of downloading and viewing it from a stand-alone PDF reader.
  7. Formatting is kept as is. If you use other formats (even the open-source format used by OpenOffice.org), the formatting may be changed once you go from one computer to another. With PDF files, you are assured that the way you look at the document would be the same look seen by others, even if you don't have the same versions of the document editor.


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My ideal permissive copyright license

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* Allows anyone to incorporate all or part of the work in any work which is not to be sold commercially. I want my contributions released to the public for free or almost free (distribution costs may be offset), or if sold for-profit, the profit should go into charity.

"Copyright (C) [YEAR] Vincent S. Isles. All or any part of this [book/website] may be incorporated in any work which is not be sold for-profit, or if sold for-profit, with the profit going to charity. This copyright license is incompatible with GFDL and Creative Commons licenses which allow commercial reuse."

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GFDL concerns

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Some of my friends had been asking why I'm not as helpful at the Cebuano Wikipedia now compared to the days before the launching of WikiPilipinas.org. The reason is because I just realized right now how bad the GNU Free Documentation License is (which is being used by Wikipedia) when it comes for some people to exploit your data for profit. Come to think of this: you spend bucks, time, energy, and patience to build up a community and write articles, and then wham! Somebody copy your articles to their site without even linking to the equivalent articles in the original website, and worse, makes money out of your work.

Most copyleft advocates think that there is no chance for a GFDL'ed material to be returned to a more restrictive license (something which does not allow commercial reuse). The people at WikiPilipinas.org can have all the articles I've already written for Cebuano Wikipedia, but that's that. I don't want anyone making money out of my work, so I'll simply stop contributing to any project where the output is GFDL'd. (Of course, there will be exceptions, but the important thing it's now the rule.)

In any case, I'm few months away from my resignation as Bureaucrat (=Project Manager) of the Cebuano Wikipedia. On the third anniversary of the site next year (June 25, 2008) I'll be stepping down as bureaucrat.

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Why I love docstoc.com

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For those of you who do not know yet what is docstoc.com, it's a site where you can download lots of documents created by other people. If you are searching for some specific kind of document (say a non-disclosure agreement), docstoc.com is the place to look for it.

I've been a member for only a few days now, but I've already downloaded a lot. So far these are the things I've liked about docstoc.com:
  1. The idea itself! (duh!)
  2. The superb welcoming community. :)
  3. The ability to put a link to your LinkedIn and FaceBook profiles in your docstoc profile (here's mine).
  4. The ability to put a request for a document to other docsters.
While I'm quite busy at the moment and may not find the time to find documents to upload, I certainly recommend docstoc.com :)

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Email to docstoc.com

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I've signed up at http://docstoc.com, a very good website which contains lots of prepared documents. Kat, the community manager, sent me a private message welcoming me to the community. Here's my reply:
Hi,

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for the great idea to have a site like this. I have already downloaded a lot of documents and some of them had been helpful to me as a professional teacher :-) Why reinvent the wheel (re-create the document) if you have access to an already-made one which you can just modify ;-)

I have uploaded just one file so far, but I'll upload more maybe next week. I'm just removing personal info from the documents.

I may also blog about this great site one of these days.

Fellow docster,

Vincent Isles
http://islestech.blogspot.com/


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Rest!

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It's my engineer brother's birthday, so forgive me if I don't post anything. I want to grab a bottle of beer!

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How to backup Blogger entries

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My very first blog was here at BlogSpot.com, but then I realized that it was too slow for my purposes, so I switched to Wordpress.com, only to realize that Wordpress won't allow AdSense ads, and so I went back in here again.

The best thing that I like about Wordpress.com is the possibility of backing up your data and downloading it as a file to your disk. Yes, everything, including the comments.

A backup capability is not offered here at Blogger, but a possibility would be to create a Wordpress.com account, export the Blogger data to your Wordpress.com account, and then download the data through Wordpress.com. It's a long roundabout way, but it's possible.

(related article)

Note: This was supposed to be posted on Dec. 5, 2007 PST, but my Internet connection at that time was too slow.

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Why a wiki site?

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This is from http://islesv.pbwiki.com/ which I am redesigning now to act as my classes site:
As outlined somewhere else, I met the Internet back in 1998 (and next year will be my 10th year online), although I was only active (in the usual sense of the word) online starting in 2001.

My original site was hosted at TopCities.com. I never had a serious problem with that site. With up to 150 MB of storage, their free service was enough for my needs. But there came a time when I had so many things to deal with that I can't manage an offline copy of my site.

This was the time when I started looking for possible wiki-based free personal web site hosting. My first choice is a site using MediaWiki software, since this is the one running behind Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and I am involved with this projects. However I was not able to locate any, and I've read somewhere that there is this PBWiki.com site which is just the thing I was looking for, except for the use of MediaWiki.

In short, I am just using the advantage of a wiki-based system: fast editing, and no-hassle uploading. They now offer a hassle-free system of backing up your files.


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Why post daily?

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Related to what I've posted yesterday, somebody asked: So, why not just publish everything in one go? In that way, you can help other people who might be searching for the information. What if you publish the information that you have on Tuesday, but the poor guy needs it on Monday?

Good argument, but I never think the things I post here are important enough to merit anybody's particular attention. Contrary to what some think, blogging is actually more for self-gratification rather than helping the community. Really, including this one :) Of course, I mean the other way around :)

Okay, so why do I insist on posting daily? First of all, the correct question is why publish daily. I sometimes post entire batches of articles in one go, but I log in everyday to my Blogger account and choose one article to publish. Right now there are about 5 articles in my account which are still marked "Draft".

Secondly, my reason: Publishing daily gives you the inspiration to continue the habit. If you won't publish daily, sooner or later, time will come when you will just be too busy for your blog.

I hope that helps.

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Wondering what those URLs for SiteSearch mean? They're just the ones which will appear in your search box:




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Interesting wiki-site.com sites

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http://flcasebook.wiki-site.com
http://askaninja.wiki-site.com/
http://worldparliament.wiki-site.com/
http://groupprops.wiki-site.com
http://helpfindmaddie.wiki-site.com
http://ualguide.wiki-site.com
http://aaci.wiki-site.com
http://freeradio.wiki-site.com
http://permacultureyouth.wiki-site.com

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The BlogSpot cheat (or, How to post something daily to BlogSpot)

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Q: So how does Vincent Isles manage to post (almost) daily to his Isles Tech blog? Does he spent an hour each day facing the computer, waiting for inspiration to occur?

A: Actually, no. If you wait for the daily inspiration, it usually does not occur 30 minutes before the start of the daily grind. Inspiration comes in batches, sometimes after a bottle of beer :-) What I actually do here is write everything techie that comes into my mind during lull moments. I use Notepad (or GEdit, if I am in my Ubuntu workstation) and when I have a chance, I transfer them to my blog. But hey, don't publish it yet. Just keep it a draft, and then note somewhere what is supposed to be published for each day.

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Looking for a MediaWiki site?

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The other day I posted something about the LEX LIBERA project. I just realized right now that for free accounts at wiki-site.com, you do not have any way of getting a snap shot of the data, which is vitally important if we want to produce CD copies of the data.

The support forum of wiki-site.com is also a bit sluggish. Tsk, tsk. Just when I would have wanted to recommend wiki-site.com if you need a site which will host MediaWiki for free. Seriously though, I recommend wiki-site.com, only be aware that you can't backup your data. If you need a simpler situation (MediaWiki is not the way to go if most of your users are not comfortable with techie markup), I'd recommend PBWiki.com which is hosting my Philippine History Primary Source site.

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Fixing no display problem

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By some quirk of nature (computer nature, that is), your computer showed two display adapters in the Settings tab of the Display Properties panel. Curious that you are, you choose the second one and checked the "Use this as my primary display" choice. Voila! Your display is gone.

Restarting (forced restarting, since you can't see what's happening right now) normally won't solve anything. I wasted 30 minutes to realize that a simple way to fix this would be to restarting and then choosing "Enable VGA mode" in the OS choice menu that you can get if you press F8 many times.

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How to change ownership of a BlogSpot blog

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Situation: You decided to change your Google username for any reason. You want to change the ownership of the blogs in your OLD_USERNAME to that of your NEW_USERNAME. Here are the steps:
  1. Login to the blog using OLD_USERNAME.
  2. Go to Settings > Permissions. Click on Add Author. Enter the email of the target user (NEW_USERNAME@gmail.com).
  3. Logout.
  4. Login to NEW_USERNAME's GMail account. Click on the activation link.
  5. Logout.
  6. Login to the blog using OLD_USERNAME. Go to Settings > Permissions and click on "Grant admin rights."
  7. Click on "Remove" to remove OLD_USERNAME from the blog.
  8. You can now login using NEW_USERNAME and post using NEW_USERNAME.


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AdSense not showing

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I don't why my AdSense units are not showing up on this blog when I view it from a Windows station. They work fine in Ubuntu though. I still have to check tomorrow, because I'm really running out of time today.

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LEX LIBERA: The free Philippine law database

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I had not been posting something in this blog for a couple of days now. The reason for that is my involvement in a project to create a free Philippine law database. Here's the invitation that I've sent to the Filipino community in the English Wikipedia:

Hi all,

I know this is quite off-tangent to us here, but then this is where I can find people who know MediaWiki wikitext :)

Along with some friends who are studying law, I've started with the LEX LIBERA project, which aims to create a free database of Philippine laws and court decisions, including articles on specific laws targeted for the ordinary person without legal training (Law for the People) and case digests targeted for the hurried law student (Case Digests Project).

The content-management system is MediaWiki, so if you are comfortable editing Wikipedia, you would also be fine with Lex Libera. The license of the product is not yet decided by the community, but it will be a copyleft license, allowing noncommercial reuse and redistribution.

FYI, there are two commercial CD compilations of laws and court decisions in the Philippines: Lex Libris from CDAsia and Phil Juris from Gigabytes Research Systems, Inc. Both of these CD collections are quite expensive, as any law student would tell you, despite the fact that what they contain are actually unprotected by copyright according to P.D. 49.

Philippine laws are available from http://www.congress.gov.ph and court decisions are available from http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph. The project will simply collect these laws and court decisions and link the entries conceptually.

Please do not reply to this note here as this is not related to Wikipedia, and I had sent invitations to other communities. Instead, post your comments in the project's Forum page.

Respectfully yours,

Bentong Isles
LEX LIBERA Project


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