For future reference:
Some background links on setting up large Drupal sites:
Blog
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Unplanned photo tour
Walked thru parts of Riehen and Chrischona today. The weather was better than expected. Took lots of flower snapshots for the boring flower snapshot set. So boring they easily qualify.
I found this sign on my way back to my bicycle:
Made me smile.
I continued exploring Jekyll (see yesterday’s post). Bin gespannt.
Further snapshots:
sooo boring 
for the boring flower snapsot collection https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiperoni/albums/72157600272787982 -
Building websites with Jekyll, Github Pages
This post has made me very curious. They use a different stack:
Jekyll for page templates and static file generation
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files
GitHub Pages static HTTP server
Supplemented with external APIs where necessaryI guess, you can convert WordPress to static HTML. I found this description.
Looking a little further, there’s this setup using Really Static.
Why static HTML? HTML is secure and faster.
Speed: Any web server, will serve html files a lot faster than PHP generated files.
Security: If you are serving just static files, there is no way to hack your site.Here’s a thread on the same at Quora
And using the WordPress static output plugin
Nice to know I could offer a flat static HTML version of this site.
I will have a longer look at Jekyll.
BTW, one year ago I tweeted about something similar:
“Your best option is zero lock-in. Static HTML and RSS.” http://j.mp/pa4Rko
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) July 13, 2011
Any experience? Opinions? Further resources to look at?
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Kamikaze wasp
While cycling this morning – on my way to church – a wasp flew directly into my face and stung me on my lower lip. Somehow I managed to remove the stinger. Luckily I am not allergic. I used my bottle of ice water to cool the sting.
Natural remedies:
- place a slice of onion on the sting
- make a paste of baking soda and water to reduce the itch
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Wi-fi fridge
Do we need this?
Looks like more and more machines are built to auto-transmit signals back to the manufacturer.
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Shooting like a pro
Took part in a photo shooting at the day job. I learnt a lot by watching a pro.
Lighting – using indirect flash and white boards to bounce the light.
Tethered shooting – to position the photo and to check the lighting and sharpness on a larger screen.
Quantity – the photographer took 28 GB for 10 photos. We tried 40 to 50 photos per theme.
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Saturday
Slow start to a beautiful day. Listening to dradio.de and sipping Chicco d’oro coffee and reading my way thru awesome Twitter people and browsing thru Flickr. 2 laptops, 1 iPod Touch, 1 Blackberry, and 1 Canon digicam all within close distance.
Generation screen.
It’s caturday.
Planning to head to the swimming pool later. Loading my iPod with podcasts. Lack of time will always be an outcome in a capitalist environment. Days like this are pure luxury.
Links to read:
Link 1: Yesterday I stumbled across this HBR blog post on the disciplined pursuit of less. Some interesting questions to think about…- “What am I deeply passionate about?”
- “What taps my talent?”
- “What meets a significant need in the world?”
- “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?”
Link 2: A trend I have been following for years – the emerging new opportunities in Africa as a result of mobile and web technology – is now being recognized.
“Africa is a lively business opportunity which appeals to many entrepreneurs who are not from the continent itself. ” bit.ly/OQUQiL
— âœ___CollectThisTweet (@nchenga) August 10, 2012
Even in small markets like Malawi, software companies are emerging. Developers such as:
- http://www.p4studio.com/ and http://baobabhealth.org in Lilongwe
- http://www.b4csoftware.com/ in Blantyre
Link 3: Strong passwords are not enough. We need to invest more time in securing our online passwords. See this how-to at Lifehacker and this post by Matt Cutts. More hassle. More work.
And Facebook only allows me to enter one cell phone, automatically removing the cell phone on my other Facebook account; apparently one person = one Facebook account = one cell phone number. I currently have 4 Facebook accounts. But on the upside, I may never need to spend energy on resolving this, cos Facebook may become irrelevant… n’est-ce pas? How one botched IPO can change the outlook of a company, is quite mind-boggling.
Music: My favourite band this summer is Boy. Love their sound.
Buon weekend. And please feel free to leave a comment.
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Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should
Hidden in this screenshot are 22 thousand reasons not to base your entire marketing on G+ or FB or Twitter or anybody else.
I thought Google had learnt the lesson when they botched the Buzz launch. Well, here they are pushing events via soc med contacts to something as personal as a calendar.
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Running update
I took part in the Basel Firmenlauf yesterday evening.
Not a very long race at 6.3 km, but for me it was special, since it marked my first running goal for this year. My first public race in a long time. I was very excited.
It was warm and humid yesterday with temperatures around 30 degrees C. Together with over 2600 participants, I set off and managed to keep to my pace. The kilometer between 3km and 4km seemed endless. Maybe because my morning jog before work is shorter? But I just kept going. Kämpfa, Kämpfa. Karbon statt Kondition.
My next goal is 10km. That’s what I decided after the race. Voilà !
I like running cos I see a lot of parallels with work life, building relationships, or even spiritual life. So often I want to stop…
There is a race that I must run. There are victories to be won.
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Beautiful day
I went photo-walking with other Basel Flickrites.
We walked from Messe-Platz to Depot Basel. My highlight was the garden boxes in front of Basel Depot.
Some of my snapshots:
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Low cost stock photos
for future reference, a list of useful photo resources:
http://nicoleschnell.ch/post/16935324027/stockbilder-for-free
Searching on Facebook:
I previously posted this link on one of my Facebook accounts. But i couldn’t find it although i knew which timeframe and FB account. Plus if a FB post doesn’t have any likes or comments or shares, it gets demoted. Very one-sided approach. Some of my data is valuable and useful to me in future, that’s why I am posting it in the first place. -
nchenga
according to fzi.uni-freiburg.de/VertebratesMOC”¦ “nchenga” is the Chisena word for Greater Honeyguide, Black-throated Honeyguide en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_H”¦
— sand (@nchenga) June 10, 2012
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Barcamp Bodensee 2012
I attended Barcamp Bodensee in Friedrichshafen yesterday. Very enjoyable.
Big thank you to the organizers. It was worth getting up early.
It started with breakfast and an emotional greeting by Oliver Gassner: “The internet is made of people.”
And it was truly impressive to see so many people attending and participating.
The location at Zeppelin University on the shore of Lake Constance was perfect.
A few highlights:
A talk on sleep by Jan Krämer
“sleep is good for creativity”Facebook community management
Romy showed us how she manages comments, spam on a large Facebook fan page. Her advice: never delete a comment or block the user. Rather mark the comment as spam and then explain why. She recommended having a page on policies and handling of comments in a “Netiquette” page. She showed the new content management features that went live recently for fan pages: you can now schedule posts and assign different admin roles. And her take: all the brands are spending $$$ to gain Facebook followers; very few followers are organic.I learnt a lot just by listening.
And if I ever start a company, I would go to each and every barcamp in Europe and present my idea. Startup presenters get so much free and useful consulting and marketing ideas from attendees.
Thank you.
Links:
allfacebook.com
nutshellmail.com/
http://unhosted.org/
https://www.flinc.org/
http://www.pixoona.com/BTW, the DB train along the German side of the Rhine river is very noisy and made me feel queasy and travel-sick. Buy some new trains and renew the tracks. Or maybe SBB should take over this route?
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Today
For future reference, some twitter poetry to keep:
Faved RT @MissKateSmall: RT @SummerHouseSA: “What day is it?” asked Pooh. “Its today” squeaked Piglet. “My favourite day” said Pooh. ☺
— sand (@nchenga) June 7, 2012
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Copy and paste from Chrome to Gmail
My Gmail tip of the day: copy and paste from another website to Gmail.
Via Lifehacker.
And with this hack, I will not need the spammy ads via Send using Gmail (I hope) (maybe).
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1 May 2012
Blogging advice in 2012 err… 2011:
Heh, I thought blogging’s dead?!
It’s the first of May – a public holiday in my part of Switzerland. I am listening to BBC radio and reading news distributed via Facebook and Twitter.
Random useless fact of the day:
I woke up at 5:40. For the second day in a row.I have been posting snapshots on Flickr:
And may I say that my set of really boring flower snapshots is… well… really, truly boring.
I received an offline comment on this phrase on my Flickr profile:
Unhindered by talent or technical skills, I hope I can at least convey the fun I’m having.
Questions and random observations:
By the way, where can i find the best samosas in Basel? And I still haven’t solved the issue of best dim sum in Basel.
Which Klippan cover should i get for my Klippan couch?
Via this tweet, celebrate the end of winter with this Italian children’s song
Fruit fool:
I was just reminded of my first cooking class at Saint Andrew’s: we made fruit fool – with custard and seasonal fruit.Twitter has changed my reading habits. If a webpage is full of text… So I’d better stop soon.
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Blogging isn’t dead (yet)
Heh, heh. Here is a “why you should blog” article from January 2012. Blogging isn’t dead (yet).
I just spent hours trying to de-infest a Joomla 1.0 or 1.5 site from spam. And I am ready to leave PHP behind me forever.
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My Sunday fun tweet…
In response to @livilodge’s RT of @runwildsafaris’ tweet:
RT @runwildsafaris: Giraffe herd. Big Kudu bull, 2,5 turns on the horns, Impala, Wildebees, Zebra. Some cloud on the horizon. Hot afternoon.
— richard chanter (@livilodge) April 15, 2012
I wrote:
@livilodge @runwildsafaris rainy grey day in basel, switzerland. Saw a couple of dogs on leashes. You win !
— san mangwana(@nchenga) April 15, 2012
