One of the first problems I noticed when I started using my new nano was when I put it in my pocket or take it out, it is likely to change the volume or skip forwards or backwards as the buttons are accidentally pushed. There is a switch on the bottom that locks the controls, but that means if you want to skip a song, you have to unswitch, skip, and switch again. Not terrible. Kind of inconvenient though, plus I usually already have stuff in my pockets.
Digital Camera for Mom
Mom asked for advice on digital cameras. Consumer Reports had just published an article on them, so I used it as a starting place and checked some stuff on Amazon. Because she likes her Canon SD100, she is leaning towards the SD800IS, which I guess is what I would choose too.
Movie Review Database – Not Yet
After getting the discussion board set up (so far no one has signed up or posted anything; not surprising given the small amount of traffic to that website) using php and MySQL, I thought it might be time to convert my movie reviews over to a MySQL database with pages served like this blog and the discussion area.
Privatization
I accidentally stumbled on a great example of government privatization yesterday. I was coming back from a trip to Columbus around lunchtime. I missed the exit where Arby’s is, but the next exit showed a Hardees, Waffle House, Wendy’s, and Chik-Fil-A. So I pulled off. When I got on to the ramp they had a sign saying which way each place was. The two I might want (Wendy’s and Chik-Fil-A) were 2.8 miles to the right. That wasn’t much less than if I had turned around and gone back to the previous exit to go to Arby’s. I ended up going down that road anyway and it seemed like I was out in the country. After what seemed a very long way I came across some restaurants, though I didn’t see a sign pointing out which way the places I wanted to go. I ended up giving up and went to Taco Bell.
Bulletin Board
After doing a bunch of research on different types of discussion boards, I went ahead and decided to try out PunBB. It got good reviews as a small and easy-to-manage bulletin board system. I thought it would be a real challenge, but actually it wasn’t bad. Even the installation was fairly simple. The file itself was under 300k. I had to create a MySQL database at my host first, and I wasn’t sure what to use as the database server hostname (I left it as “localhost” and it seemed to work). It went surprisingly smoothly and I had a discussion group before long.
Also, in the control panel for the website I set up a subdomain so that visitors can go to:
Right now it is very plain. And I don’t think it has a lot of options. One thing I wanted to do was to approve members manually so that I don’t get interlopers or robots visiting. It seems the only thing I can do is require a confirmation e-mail. That should help anyway.
I got kind of mad at first because I told it not to show my e-mail address in my posts, and when I went to look, there it was plain as day. But it turns out I could see it because I was a moderator. When I logged out and viewed it as a guest, I could not see the e-mail address.