Illinois Pineapples
Why do I find so much humor at our local grocery store? I think it’s because they make it too easy!
I stopped by my local Highlander (Kroger) grocery store to pick up a few essential food items (that’s code for ice cream.) They’ve been pushing a locally grown message for a while now with posters and signs around the store. We’re in Northern Illinois and the store has stretched local to mean things like Michigan blueberries and Kentucky cucumbers. It’s within a long day’s drive, I guess. [ Continue reading Illinois Pineapples … ]
I Don’t Want a Verizon iPhone
Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have been circulating for years. Even though none have materialized, the news ticker on our TV today showed that the mainstream media has picked up the topic…again. This new surge of rumors seems no more likely than previous batches. I suspect they are fueled only by wishful thinking, which I can’t completely relate to.
I may be in the minority, but I don’t want a Verizon iPhone. [ Continue reading I Don’t Want a Verizon iPhone … ]
Gravatar, AppleScript, and the OS X Address Book Revisited
A while back I did a series of posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4) on using Gravatars in AppleScript to update pictures in your Mac Address Book. Those address pictures then sync to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
I’ve learned a few things since then, plus the Gravatar service has a new option that removes the need for a workaround I had to come up with. So it’s time for an update to my now obsolete posts. [ Continue reading Gravatar, AppleScript, and the OS X Address Book Revisited … ]
Census form requires telling the future
Our 2010 census form arrived in the mail today but it’s impossible to fill it out according to the instructions. Why, you ask?
Well, today is March 16, 2010. The packet contains a letter dated March 15, 2010, which includes the following text in bold print: Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today.
Okay, I guess I better get to it.
Question 1: How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?
Hmmmm. There does not seem to be a blank to state that I don’t know how to tell the future. 
Computer Repair Tools from the Kitchen
I was doing some repair work on a laptop computer today and realized I had not yet shared one of my most significant homemade tools for this kind of work. It’s simply an ice cube tray with each cube numbered in permanent marker.
I put screws and other small parts in the tray as I disassemble each section of the computer. If I’m following a numbered repair guide I try to match the cube number to each step. Otherwise, I just fill the cubes in numerical order as it makes sense. Reassembly is a snap and there’s no losing or mixing up those tiny screws.
Oh, and while I’m snatching kitchen items to use as tools, cookie sheets make great parts trays for longer-term projects. The whole project can be shelved to get it out of the way and then easily resumed without parts getting misplaced.
Loading WordPress’ Thickbox Only When Needed
I like to use Thickbox on my site to display images and videos in overlay windows. In WordPress, it’s easy enough to use wp_enqueue_script( ) and wp_enqueue_style() to load the built-in version of Thickbox. It automatically takes care of including jQuery, putting the css in the header, and the javascript in the footer.
But there’s no need to have the bloat of Thickbox and jQuery loading on all pages when most of them don’t even use it. That’s why Joost de Valk detailed a nice tip to only load thickbox when needed by checking the page content for references to it. All it takes is a few lines of code in your functions.php file.
Unfortunately, you end up with some broken images because the built-in Thickbox defines their locations in thickbox.js as relative paths: [ Continue reading Loading WordPress’ Thickbox Only When Needed … ]
Chopping Down an Entertainment Center
I’m taking a break from my usual geek content for a woodworking project. Granted, it’s a woodworking project to contain geek stuff, though.
We purchased a nice solid oak entertainment center many years ago. But it’s worthless now in an age of widescreen TVs. I tried to sell it, and then later give it away, with no takers. It had been taking up way too much room in the garage for more than a year. [ Continue reading Chopping Down an Entertainment Center … ]
WordPress 2.9 Media Features Voting
The WordPress folks have announced that the 2.9 release will focus mostly on media handling features. They have posted a list of features for consideration and are asking everyone to vote on their favorites.
I applaud them for a great list of useful enhancement ideas, however, I would love to see it approached from a slightly different angle. [ Continue reading WordPress 2.9 Media Features Voting … ]
GPS Geolocation in Safari on iPhone OS 3.0
I just updated my iPhone to the shiny new OS 3.0. Apple did a great job addressing a few shortcomings and adding new features. Others have already told about the common features so I won’t rehash them here.
But let me tell you about my favorite new feature: Safari can now get your GPS location via javascript! [ Continue reading GPS Geolocation in Safari on iPhone OS 3.0 … ]
Filling Mac Address Book Pictures with Gravatars
[This information in this post is out of date. Please see Gravatar, AppleScript, and the OS X Address Book Revisited for more current information.]
This is a multi-part tutorial series on using Gravatar from AppleScript to update your Mac Address Book pictures automatically. These pictures then sync to your iPhone for Gravatar goodness on the go.
I’ve had some AppleScripts to work with Gravatars and Address Book hanging around in rough form for quite a while. But I was recently prompted to clean them up and write these tutorials when Matt Mullenweg posted about Gravatar on his blog saying that “we need a better way to get Gravatars into your Apple address book / iPhone.” I hope that the documentation and tools from this project will be used for other creative Gravatar integration projects.
We’re about to put all of what we learned in part 1, part 2, and part 3 together to make our working script. [ Continue reading Filling Mac Address Book Pictures with Gravatars … ]
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MacUpdate Promo Deal of the Day
