I’ve been running more PHP apps for virtualhosts lately, and one thing I dislike about such bundles is having a config file in the app root. For one, it’s sitting in the web root, and if improperly configured the server could serve it as content, posing a security risk (as they tend to hold database login information, passwords, etc.) The other reason is that I like to maintain a single copy of the app (via the FreeBSD ports tree, or from a single repository checkout.) I don’t want to make copies, because then I need to maintain each copy too, and I can’t just set the primary installation directory as the server document root, or alias a subpath to it, because each deployment would receive the same default config file. Any modifications to the application code, to make it look elsewhere for the config, would likely be lost in the next upgrade. So how can you share a single installation for multiple deployments?

The key is that the config file itself is usually left as-is during upgrades, as it is supposed to be altered by the user. We use this file to include another config file from elsewhere based on webserver variables.

For example, here is my config.inc.php for phpMyAdmin:


<?php
/*
Delegate to another file.

?>


You now just need two lines in a virtualhost config to set up a new installation:

SetEnv PHPMYADMIN_CONFIG_FILE /usr/home/$USER/.phpmyadmin
Alias /phpmyadmin/ "/usr/local/www/phpMyAdmin/"

Of course, you still need to set up each .phpmyadmin file, but that’s easy enough. Of course, if you’re deploying lots of similar database setups, you could also use the virtualhost config to set up the configuration and re-use a common config.inc.php tweaked to use server variables (PHPMYADMIN_HOST)… but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader. Avoid passing passwords this way, however, as server configuration variables are another potential data leak.

Started by the MIT Media lab in 1993, Computer Clubhouse is a computer focused after-school program with 100 chapters worldwide.

The Computer Clubhouse provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people from under-served communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology.

Their learning model principles:
1) Learning by designing
2) Following your Interests
3) Building a Community
4) Respect and Trust

Computer Clubhouse also has programs focused on women, and guiding participants on college/career paths.

Computer Clubhouse Site

Here’s a neat tool created by the MIT media lab. It makes creating little flash type animations simple enough that a literate person with no programming experience could do it, all the while learning the basic concepts of programming. Calling it “Logo 2009″ wouldn’t be far off.

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

Scratch website
Introduction to programming and Scratch (Harvard CS50 Lecture 2)

MySQL director of architecture Brian Aker provides the scoop on Drizzle in a short video interview. If you’re a MySQL user, and especially if you hadn’t heard about Drizzle, and extra especially if you had any concerns about MySQL’s future due to the recent Sun acquisition by Oracle, you should check this out.

Here are my takeaways:

• Drizzle uses a modular system akin to Apache to remain light(er) weight and highly tweakable. Sweet!
• It focuses on convenience of community based development, i.e., Drizzle is viable even if Sun decided to defenestrate the MySQL team.
• Big names are putting time into supporting Drizzle development too.
• MySQL is pronounced My-S-Q-L

Post at bartongeorge.net

Having found many of the works of Frank L. Baum available as free audio books via the awesome Librivox, we have been downloading them for the kiddos to listen to in bed at night. Check out the wikipedia article for a full list of Oz books (including cover art!) Librivox also provides links to relevent wikipedia entries, archive.org content, and even a “Chapter a day” service you can subscribe to.

Librivox Search for “Frank L. Baum”

More than once, especially in discussing something in correspondance, I’ve want to have something I can easily cite that explains my perspective on disagreements, discussions, and how I percieve them. Here’s a rough cut.

We disagree! (Probably. At the moment. About a likely very small subset of topics.)

You think I’m wrong? That’s OK with me! I’ve been wrong before, so this wouldn’t be the first time. You have good reason to assume that you’re probably right and that I’m wrong. So do I, even if I’m actually wrong! But I certainly prefer to be right. Hopefully you want to help me understand why I’m wrong, and can spare a few moments to set me straight; then we can both be right. *High fives!!!*

Here is where I’m coming from:

• I have opinions. These are like theories, in that they’re simply the a general rule I cobbled together from anecdotal experiences.
• I have “knowledge” about “facts” which are opinions about “reality” highly corroborated by “evidence.”
• I find knowledge and opinions useful in making decisions. I want to have useful knowledge and opinions, which means ones that are most accurate. This is why, if I”m wrong, I want you to tell me! Just do so in a helpful way, by pointing out which opinions are wrong and then showing me what refutes them.

This is where we stand:

• We might not actually disagree. We might realize, in explaining our positions, that we’re just talking about the same thing in different ways. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened!
• We might question the evidence. Let’s be honest, there is a lot of bad “evidence” out there. I tend to trust certain sources more than others, and you probably do too. Perhaps we can agree on some sources. That would make this a lot easier! For example, I tend to reference snopes.com whenever someone asks me to forward a chain message so they can get a free laptop from Microsoft/Dell/Disney/Facebook/etc. If we don’t agree on a source then it isn’t useful in our discussion. We could debate a source’s validity, but that’s a whole different discussion.
• We might question the logic used to present the evidence as supporting or refuting our opinions. Let’s be honest, it’s not uncommon for people to make a mistake in logic. Also, lots of people get paid to make highly convincing but fallacious logic (we call them “magicians,” “marketers,” and “con artists” among other things.) I wouldn’t fault anyone for falling prey to a reasonable sounding fallacious argument; sure, I’ve done that too! Perhaps we can take a closer look at the logic behind the evidence.

I’m also open to the idea that it can be useful to hold opinions that aren’t based on evidence. I only oppose these opinions when they contradict legitimate evidence, because then they lead to making bad decisions. That’s not useful… in fact, that’s can be dangerous!

When I’m wrong: it might take me some time to accept that, especially if I’ve invested an time or effort into projects that you’ve now shown to be misguided, flawed, pointless or, at worst, counter to my benefit. While I want to find out if I’m wrong, I don’t enjoy being wrong, and I actively dislike dealing with the consequences, because it might take effort to adjust to my newly enlightened position. BUT! I would rather make the necessary adjustments than continue to put my energy into the wrong investments. Just allow me some space while I’m adjusting. I’ll try not to get too cranky. Note: gloating is an invitation for me to openly question your lineage and olfactory prescence.

If you don’t want to discuss it: I’ll be irritated. You’ve basically said to me “Hey, there’s a problem with your model of the world, which might get you into trouble, and I know what the problem is, but I don’t want to bother helping you get things straight.” It’s frustruating to be taunted like that, and I hope you understand why I dislike it.

So hey, I don’t dislike you just because we disagree. Quite the opposite: I rely on my friends to point out when I’m wrong, because although that’s fair game for anyone, my friends are the ones who help set me straight. Thank you for your time, I appreciate it!

By the way, I tend to assume that this is generally your policy too. If it isn’t, let me know, and why. Perhaps I’ll amend my own policy, if yours is more useful!

“Plastic takes thousands of years to decompose — but 16-year-old science fair contestant Daniel Burd made it happen in just three months.

The Waterloo, Ontario high school junior figured that something must make plastic degrade, even if it does take millennia, and that something was probably bacteria.”

Dirt: The New Prozac

“Some researchers have proposed that the sharp rise in asthma and allergy cases over the past century stems, unexpectedly, from living too clean. The idea is that routine exposure to harmless microorganisms in the environment—soil bacteria, for instance—trains our immune systems to ignore benign molecules like pollen or the dandruff on a neighbor’s dog. Taking this “hygiene hypothesis” in an even more surprising direction, recent studies indicate that treatment with a specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may be able to alleviate depression.”

[Note: This is from March 2007]

I am rejoicing in the upswing of philosophical sci-fi. Action sci-fi is nice, but I like cake with my frosting, and sometimes a good cake doesn’t need any frosting. Moon gets extra points for stopping where Sunshine should have.

Also, another great Clint Mansell score.

Who would have thought working two jobs would impact my opportunities to maintain my own projects? *facepalm* Well, I’ve bought back 10 hours per week… what to do first, hmm… *heads to bed*

There was an old mariner of yore,
whose trip started out as a bore,
then the silly old fuck
shot the bird of good luck
and he barely made it back to shore.

There once was a girl who got moany
just because she wanted a pony
but her `rents shook their heads
and the girl’s life force ebbed
and now her parents are aloney.

There once was a guy at the door,
and a confused exchange, and what’s more,
the exactlywatt
had a chain through his gut
and I never could figure what for.

There once was a fridge, and a bear,
and some butter, some paws, and some hair
and soda, and rice,
and noodles, and ice,
and a kid due for more than a scare.

Sorry, I was inspired by Bad Gods’s Famous Poems rewritten as limericks.

Saturday DJ Quiet and I made our way to NYC for the third night of BlipFest 2008. It was awesome, and next year I intend to secure lodging in the city for the whole shebang.

BlipFest is an annual chiptune music fest. Chiptune is a section of music space where the audio pallettes set forth by the limited capabilities of (early) videogame sound chips is employed. It often blends with less restrictive forms of music composition and performance; instead of a static score, some of the song might be performed live on a (necessarily custom built) instrument that generates sounds in this range. All manner of mixing equipment and community/custom programs is employed. It also lends itself to trippy, pixelated visual art and videogame “remixes.” Blipfest brings together some of the best chiptune artists (some all the way from China) and great visual artists to accompany them for four nights of awesome.

Anyway, after some Googlemap induced mishaps we found our way to the venue in Brooklyn, which was nice if small for what ended up being a sold out show. We came in at the beginning of Bubblyfish‘s set, which I recognized as her cover of Kraftwerk’s “It’s more fun to compute” off the 8 Bit Operators comp although I hadn’t connected the song and the performer until that point. It was my favorite set of the night, probably pushed to the top by the Bubblyfish’s exuberence and the visual mixing backing her up. It was also the most dancable set. What live music I’ve caught since becoming a parent hasn’t gone much beyond inducing the jump and cheer, and I hadn’t even anticipated a mosh pit at this event, but by the end of the (all too short) set I was happy to pay the $2 to check my hoodie and sweatshirt so that I didn’t have to make the homeward journey in the snow while soaked from the inside out.
The rest of the night kept the energy up, with sulumi, Cow’P, nullsleep and Stu gracing the stage before I left in an attempt to make the 1:49 train back to CT. The visual art was also perfectly done for the scene, and the crowd was full of fans there to enjoy the performance, not the venue drinkers who could care less who was on stage or jerks there to start shit as I have grown accustomed to. I even got to see, albeit briefly, the one cousin I seem to share a taste in music with. I look forward to Blipfest 2009 and intend to catch some more chiptune shows in the meantime.

For tons of free chiptunes, make sure to check out the discography at 8 Bit Peoples, a chiptune label that uses the BY-NC-AT Creative Commons license (especially nullsleep, one of the label’s co-founders.)
Here are some samples:

Tales from the Pub is a collection of shorts in the style of The Twilight Zone… by the team that brought you The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. The writer/producer and sometimes actor, Tales of the Callamo Mountains up on Lulu, which is a neat on-demand publisher.

Here’s my favorite Tale from the Pub so far. Submitted for the approval of, well, everyone, I give you: “Puppet for your thoughts”

Who out there uses newsfeeds to grab torrents? I’m trying to abstract out a module I wrote for publishing such feeds and I can’t find much info, so I’m just gathering samples from various locations. If you have any, I’d specifically like to grab the content of one of the <item>s. It appears that, due to lack of a good standard, most programs are just linkscraping but I’d liek to confirm. Also, if you use utorrent or rtorrent, your experience using feeds would be welcomed.

You may have heard the saying “You are your most demanding boss,” or some variant, in regards to being self employed. You may also be aware that some jobs don’t allow you to waste their precious time on non-work related timewasters such as, just as an example, blogging. Combine and shake well; serve cold. Here’s a linkdump in pennance.

Facebook for Spooks: FBI creating social networking site for INtelligence community (thanks to taziarm for this one)

McCain on Network Neutrality: NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!
“John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like “net-neutrality,” but rather he believes that an open marketplace with a variety of consumer choices is the best deterrent against unfair practices.”

Why would he believe that data networks are an open market, and that regulation would not be in the public interest?

“U.S. Telecom Association president and CEO Walter B. McCormick Jr., Sprint CEO Daniel R. Hesse, and Verizon chairman and CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg have each raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for McCain’s campaign. AT&T executive vice president for federal relations Timothy McKone has raised at least $500,000.” Link

Visit Scrumdidlyumptious Land: The Branflakes make happy noises. New site, new music!

Has anyone else been noticing the proliferation of technology openly being developed that will enable people to construct Marvel style superhero suits and combat (or pursue a life of ) crime?
DARPA wants to float stuff: All manner of levitation effects possible*
Electrosticky droid boffin in spider-gecko tech bitchslap:Robo-thopter spy bat ‘gargoyle mode’ cracked?
That headline is all Reg and too good not to re-use. But seriously, when can I get my spiderman suit made?
Jets: His backpack’s got ‘em: Amateur jetpacking is all the rage these days.

Street Fight, Act I: Rock opera about Street Fighter evokes The Decemberists and is full of Chun Li.
The full first act is available for free download off their myspace page.
Also thanks to Penny Arcade:
The Protomen: Megaman mystique in distilled rock form. This isn’t your father’s Flashman remix! Bonus points for a sweet music video site intro.

Flock: a “social web browser”
Has anyone tried this? I haven’t had time yet but it looks interesting.

Scott McCloud does Google’s Chrome guide: Whether or not you try/like Chrome, hey, it’s Scott McCloud! I was glad to see, upon finishing it, that they had paid him to do it instead of just ripping off his style. But then, who can’t Google pay to buy cred?
leading into…
Chrome guide photoshopping: Because this is the internet and it’s funny, so there.

Brad Sucks: Sophmore album from another CC licensed artist.
I kinda dug it, I kinda didn’t. But it’s free, so give it a shot!

Dual booting Vista and Linux: Because it comes pre-installed on every PC now and you can’t even get XP.
In case you want to keep Vista (hey, with Gigs of drivespace these days, what do you bother deleting?) and want to play with the penguin. This is easier than ever, srsly.

Authonomy: HarperCollins crowdsources its slushpile.
Geeze, publishers are starting to get it. Finally. But will it matter?

School of Everything: Connect with teachers for whatever you want to learn.
Another idea I’ve been sitting on for years due to lack of time, I’m glad someone put this together and wish them much luck. Want to find someone to teach you the finer points of shellfishing, or small engine repair? Check it out.

Zoe Keating (of Rasputina fame): More awesome cello music please!

Button, button: How about 50 high quality color buttons for $20?
I look forward to trying out PureButton’s services in the near future. Who doesn’t like buttons? Let me know, because otherwise you’ll probably end up with one of mine.

DS + Korg: Official music synth program for the Nintendo DS from Korg.
The reason I might finally get a DS.

and of course:
Diplodocus: Korg DS music: Tracks to dig (and dig you should!)

Piracy vs Obscurity: Neil Gaiman leads a discussion on media dissemination in the digital age, focusing on the creators’ perspective.

OK, sorry about that. Carry on.

Last night I got to share The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra with another two friends and wondered if there might be a soundtrack out there somewhere. As these pursuits often do, I surfed down a few links and ended up with:

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again!: 10 teaser trailers for the sequel, now in post production. And there was much rejoicing.