There is no unifying theme tonight but I notice that there is still a great deal of ongoing angst about the MovableType changes. The licences have got easier but there still seems to be a lot of people looking at alternatives.
Closet Extremist is a new blog (to me at least) which presumably popped up from the munu blogroll. It may have been coincidence but the first post that I read has a similar theme to this post. There is a state of sleeplessness that seems to have a special clarity about it. I sympathise with the stomach bug because I seem to be suffering from one at the moment (and so is one of the kids). IN what could end up being a circular reference, I note that Closet Extremist also has a roundup of sorts.
Next random site happens to be All AgitProp, all the Time... who has returned after a long absence that had something to do with flying south for spring. Paul had a quick item on a crazy suicide bomber who takes on a Bradley IFV. Not a real smart thing to do but then again if he was smart, he wouldn't be a suicide bomber. On a lighter note, I nearly soaked my new computer when I saw this post about Micky Moore who turned up at Cannes in the same outfit as Alexandra Kerry*.
Read My Lips has recently started a series of Stupidest Human posts where readers can nominate (and vote?) for complete idiots. Tiger has also had a traffic blip like mine (but on a much bigger scale). IT is also worth noting that there has been a reinstatement of the Nightly Navel Gazing Reports.
Dusting My Brain is also doing a roundup post. Maybe we should all get together and agree to do each other sites :-) Actually seriously, it might we worth getting a system together so that we spread the reviews round (or at least pass the readers around). Back to the cleanest brain around, there is a concern about photo quality immediately followed by a fantastic photoshop job. I gotta say, that both Cindy and Al do a much better job than I do - but that doesn't mean I will give up on the PotD (Photo of the Day) yet.
Finally we have Selective Amnesia or do we? Checking this post suggests that in fact Selective Amnesia might be somehow related to The Blog Amnesia. The Blog Magister is trying out MT as a blogging tool. Given last weeks MT issues, there could have be a more opportune time... Actually, we will probably arrange for Chandrachoodan to test WP if MT doesn't suit his requirements. Despite the apparently unknown name, Chandrachoodan has been commenting on posts here for literally ages under the tag "Ravages". Check out this post about economists which concludes: “If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion.” That reminds me of the old saw about the HSC exams (University Entrance) held in NSW. Economics is a special subject because it is the only topic where the exam questions do not change from year to year..... but the answers do.
[* Yes I know that one of the images in photoshopped. The question is, which one :-)]
Blogroll Checklist
==============
G'Day Mate! (SELF) AOK
G'Day Mate - Reviews! (SELF) AOK
The Gray Monk AOK
LOL: Laughing Out Loud AOK
The Postulate AOK
Another Day Dawns AOK
What The .... AOK
The Blog Amnesia AOK
Munuvian - Blog Roll AOK
G'Day Mate! - Blog Roll AOK
Note: There were 1935 possible links to consider (0 unresolved).
TOP 15 Sites
============
1: LOL: Laughing Out Loud (99)
2: The Gray Monk (60)
3: All AgitProp, all the Time... (37)
4: Read My Lips (33)
5: Dusting My Brain (31)
6: On The Third Hand: More fair and balanced than Fox News (31)
7: What The .... (28)
8: Another Day Dawns (24)
9: Ramblings of SilverBlue (22)
10: The Postulate (20)
11: Simon World (19)
12: Beyond the Black Hole (18)
13: CynicalCyn.com (16)
14: The Blog Amnesia (14)
15: GRRR be afraid (14)
Random 5 Sites
==============
Closet Extremist (1)
All AgitProp, all the Time... (37)
Read My Lips (33)
Dusting My Brain (31)
Selective Amnesia (6)
There still seem to be some problems with the main blog page (the reviews page is working OK). What happens is that an authentication box for the 'Viking Realm' appears.
At first I figured it was due to the dynamic IP change yesterday morning (combined with cached copies of the IP address) and so I assumed time would fix it. The problem got worse until late afternoon when I tracked down an authentication error message related to mod_auth which I repaired. I also rebooted the server and did a bit of housekeeping.
Some readers are reporting that the problem still occurs. The only other recent change was an update to MT-Blacklist but I have checked that this morning (incorrect permissions) and if it was a problem, it isn't any more.
I have checked every single htaccess file on the server and none of them include a 'Viking' Realm. For that matter I have been searching for the word 'viking' everywhere with no useful hits. Google hasn't been a lot of help either.....
Given the current increased hit rates (up from 200/day to over 1000/day) could it be a problem with sitemeter?
If you are still seeing the problem, please let me know (this article is cross-posted to the review blog where comments should be working). If you have any suggestions about how to fix it, that would also be helpful.
Here we are back with a new Blog Roundup and for the first time in memory, we actually have a single theme for the week. Every single blog that was randomly selected has been posting about the same thing this week..... the changes that SixApart have made to the MT licence.
Before we start I would like to note that the changes do not affect users who wish to continue with the existing installation BUT 2.661 is no longer available so forget about new installs or rebuilds.
First cab off the rank is the excellent shared munu blog (all munuvians can post to it): Munuviana. This carries soem details about the PullQuotes that I used over on the main blog but the topic of the week post asks about Minx (a blog package being written by the host of munu). Answer is that it will be available soon but in the meantime, ExpressionEngine will appear soon and Pixy is also looking at WordPress.
The next site Ramblings of SilverBlue had been thinking about a revamp of the site and this was the final straw. You can follow the history and decision in these posts: first, second and third. As I write, you can now find the new SilverBlue over here. [Note to self - remember to update this in top10.]
Next we have Kathy at On The Third Hand: More fair and balanced than Fox News who also has multiple posts (1, 2 and 3). This is where I first spotted the story and Kathy linked to both the main story and the later clarification (which was predicted by Kathy). There was also a link to The BlogHouse (which from the URL is running WordPress).
More to come, over at 75th Weblog we can see the mental strain of someone torn between the options: , and .
It doesn't stop there, we also have Accidental Verbosity (another non-MT site) joining in with this post and a later followup.
Now cynical readers out there may be wondering if the randomness was rigged given such a common theme. Just to reassure you, here are a few other blogs also jumping on the same bandwagon - there really were a great many blogs to choose from :-) In fact I cut the list at the first 30 links I read...
- 6A shoots foot
- All MT all the time
- And that's the end of that
- As of 4am PDT this morning, MT sucks
- Changes on the Horizon
- Develop MT
- Excuse Me?!
- Friends don't let friends do MT3
- Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me
- I Feel Like I've Been Stabbed in the Back
- Licensure
- Looks Like I'll Be Dumping MT Soon
- Movable Gripe
- Movable Payware is out
- MT: Closing TIme?
- MT Goes Paid
- MT in Trouble?
- MT RIP
- MT3 Is Here -- Get Your Wallet Out
- MT3, New Licensing, DOOM DOOM DOOM
- MT3 Prices
- MT3 Released
- Not Good
- Problem with Trackback, The
- Six Apart announces MT 3,0 Developer Edition
- Six Apart shoots themselves in the foot
- Time to Update the PowerPoint
- Upgrade Hell
- Well, ain't that a kick in the groan?
- What MT's New License Means to Me
- You're Not My Type
If you want a summary to the most common responses that appear in the comments of these posts, check out this post which clearly outlines some key points which keep reappearing from the perspective of an MT user (especially the complaint from people who say "it is unreasonable to expect MT to be free" - which misses the problem altogether).
Blogroll Checklist
==============
G'Day Mate - Archive (SELF) AOK
G'Day Mate! (SELF) AOK
The Gray Monk AOK
LOL: Laughing Out Loud AOK
The Postulate AOK
Another Day Dawns AOK
What The .... AOK
Munuvian - Blog Roll AOK
G'Day Mate! - Blog Roll AOK
Note: There were 1716 possible links to consider (0 unresolved).
TOP 15 Sites
============
1: LOL: Laughing Out Loud (107)
2: The Gray Monk (57)
3: Dusting My Brain (37)
4: All AgitProp, all the Time... (35)
5: Read My Lips (32)
6: On The Third Hand: More fair and balanced than Fox News (32)
7: Ramblings of SilverBlue (24)
8: Another Day Dawns (23)
9: Simon World (21)
10: The Postulate (19)
11: Beyond the Black Hole (18)
12: Aussie Courier (15)
13: CynicalCyn.com (14)
14: GRRR be afraid (14)
15: Accidental Verbosity (14)
Random 5 Sites
==============
Munuviana (2)
Ramblings of SilverBlue (24)
On The Third Hand: More fair and balanced than Fox News (32)
75th Weblog (1)
Accidental Verbosity (14)
Who the heck is Mister Green? Well he must be good because he is a munu blog and as he says:
Attention non-Munu bloggers - resistance is futile.
Now you know! I believe a few of those on my blogroll are also considering convert to the light munu as well :-) I particularly liked this take on being "lucky". Personally, I reckon Mr Green is already pretty lucky.
It looks like The Gray Monk has fallen prey to the multi-blogger (also known as schizophrenic) phenomenon - at least according to this post. Personally I am wondering if this mouse and this mouse are in someway related. Squeaky denials expected any moment now. On a more serious note the Monk has a great comparison of Leaders vs Managers which really explains a great deal of what is wrong - too many managers is causing a shortage of followers and leaders :-) On a side note, congratulations to the Monk for passing me in the Ecosystem (a marsupial beats a rodent every time).
TexasBestGrok is another newcomer (at least to me). Without even visiting, I am expecting some Heinlein.... I didn't find any but I did find this ode to heroes and then this post which left me all confused: Pom? Scot? Texan? AT least I found another munu connection to Rocket Jones.
Dusting My Brain has been very busy (kissing in the park) but still found some time to try and help with my iTunes problem and to cheer on a female horse trainer. Now at this point I run into language problems - what does it mean to say that the young lady will "saddle" the horse. Does that include riding or is she the trainer and someone is the rider? Here the two (trainer / jockey) are different people and we would say the jockey "mounts" the horse and the trainer "trains" the horse. Back in time a little DMB asks about WWDC and blogging - yes I will be blogging from WWDC and I believe that I will not be alone - there will apparently be a blog get-together - although I do not recognise any of the other blogs (as yet).
CynicalCyn.com can often provide a different view of the world. For a starter, she is the only blog that I read regularly that supports the bloke with a big forehead. I also (reluctantly*) point out that she has the best jokes, like this one and this one. Speaking of alternate views, try this post.
Well that is all for this week. At least it was (almost) on time this round.....
[* Not because I don't like the jokes but because I know LOL will "borrow" them and I'll have to see them again...... ]
Blogroll Checklist
==============
G'Day Mate - Archive (SELF) AOK
G'Day Mate! (SELF) AOK
The Gray Monk AOK
LOL: Laughing Out Loud AOK
The Postulate AOK
Another Day Dawns AOK
What The .... AOK
Munuvian - Blog Roll AOK
G'Day Mate! - Blog Roll AOK
Note: There were 1690 possible links to consider (0 unresolved).
TOP 15 Sites
============
1: LOL: Laughing Out Loud (148)
2: The Gray Monk (52)
3: Dusting My Brain (35)
4: All AgitProp, all the Time... (35)
5: On The Third Hand: More fair and balanced than Fox News (30)
6: Read My Lips (30)
7: Ramblings of SilverBlue (24)
8: Another Day Dawns (23)
9: GRRR be afraid (17)
10: CynicalCyn.com (17)
11: The Postulate (17)
12: Beyond the Black Hole (16)
13: Aussie Courier (15)
14: Simon World (15)
15: Da Goddess - Friends are like bras, a good one never lets you down (14)
Random 5 Sites
==============
Mister Green (1)
The Gray Monk (52)
TexasBestGrok (1)
Dusting My Brain (35)
CynicalCyn.com (17)