Archive for July, 2006

WordPress 2.0.4

Upgrade successful! I am now running WordPress 2.0.4… (Still on b2l… hehe)

Shortcode Search Automator: A Ruby Script Using Watir

Here is my first attempt at a ruby script. Ugly? Probably. Functional? Absolutely! Hoorayy!
Also see: Watir @ Sourceforge

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
#--------------------------------------------------------------#
# ShortCodeSearch v1.0 by Alex Yule
# USShortcodes.com Shortcode Search Automator written by Alex Yule on 6/29/06
#
# Adapted from Simple Google test written by Jonathan Kohl   10/10/04
# Purpose: to test availability of shortcodes at usshortcodes.com
#   * entering text into a text field
#   * clicking a button
#   * checking to see if a page contains text.
#----------------------------------------------------------------#

require 'watir'   # the watir controller

#define test_code method--takes a code
def test_code(code)
   # set a variable
   test_site = 'http://www.usshortcodes.com'

   # open the IE browser
   ie = Watir::IE.new

   # print some comments
   # puts "## Beginning of #{code} test"

   #puts "Step 1: go to the test site: " + test_site
   ie.goto(test_site)
   #puts "Action: entered " + test_site + " in the address bar."

   ie.text_field(:name, "shortcode").set(code)       # shortcode is the name of the search field
   #puts "Action: entered #{code} in the search field"

   ie.button(:name, "single").click   # "single" is the name of the Search button

   if ie.contains_text("Login to BUY NOW.")   #Test for availability
       puts "Shortcode #{code} Available!!!"
       ie.close
   else
      puts "Shortcode #{code} taken..."
      ie.close
   end
end

s = ""
  while s != "end" #conditional loop
      print "enter code: "
      s = gets.chomp #take code input
      if s != "end" #check to see if program should end
	test_code(s) #check the code
	end
  end

Mel Gibson clears up that mystery about whether he’s an anti-Semite. By Timothy Noah

Mel Gibson clears up that mystery about whether he’s an anti-Semite. By Timothy Noah

(Here Gibson revealed an anti-Jewish bigotry so all-consuming that he couldn’t even get his ethnic stereotypes straight. The Jews control international banking, Mel. It’s the Irish who control the police.)

Oh, Slate, how I love thee….

Tab site, mysongbook.com, crippled by MPA

“The popular tab site mysongbook.com (the best resource for Guitar Pro tabs) can no longer distribute tabs. Here is the drawn out explanation from the MPA. Remember kids, looking at guitar tabs is like stealing a guitar from a music store.”
GAHHHHHHHHH!!!! FUCKING NAZIS!!!

read more | digg story

Reddit ‘white labels’ its software to Slate

Yay! This is awesome!

Reddit ‘white labels’ its software to Slate
Community news site Reddit is integrating its software into Slate.com, the venerable Webzine currently owned by Washington Post. The goal is to give Slate readers “a new way to find and discuss its best content.” Slate.reddit recently went live, “as the first step in bringing the reddit format to Slate readers (integration with the Slate website is on the way).”

Slate.reddit is populated automatically via Slate.com’s RSS feeds - so there are no manual submissions, as on the original reddit.com. All that Slate readers need to do is vote and comment.

[Update: Well, not so awesome. Just kind-of neat… Not all that useful though. Especially since the Slate homepage is so well designed, and packs more info in, and in a logical, easy-to-navigate fashion]

business2blog: B2Day : Questioning the Long Tail

More on the Long Tail…

business2blog: B2Day : Questioning the Long Tail

In other words, by eliminating the costs of inventory and allowing unlimited choice over the Internet, how niche can a product get and still be economic to produce and sell? The answer is you can now go a lot further down that curve.And because there is now economic life further down the curve, niche products can turn into nichebusters and travel up the curve more easily than in the past.

Indianapolis Recorder - NATIONAL NEWS

Indianapolis Recorder - NATIONAL NEWS
They have also accused D.A. Nifong of dividing the Durham community racially, at the same time insisting that race has nothing to do with the case.

That contention flies in the face of unrefuted evidence that the Duke lacrosse team hired and paid two poor Black women of color to debase themselves by stripping for the predominately white drunken players’ entertainment, then racially taunted them with slurs, objects and crude remarks like, “Bitch, thank your granddaddy for my cotton shirt,” when things got out of hand at the party.

Drain America First - New York Times

Drain America First - New York Times

This is mind-boggling. The bill’s stated purpose is to reduce fuel prices. But while the gulf may hold enough natural gas to affect the price of that commodity, the same cannot be said of oil. No matter where it looks, a country that consumes one-quarter of the world’s oil supply while holding only 3 percent of the reserves will never be able to drill its way to lower oil prices, much less oil independence.

THANK you. My Dad has been saying this for like, a million years. Yeesh.




FireStats icon Powered by FireStats