March, 2003:

In order to perpetuate my laziness in developing my own system for content management I’ve evaluated yet another product: Drupal v4.1.0.

I didn’t bother trying to make a theme or alter the look of the output, so I can’t really comment on the usability of that portion of the system. However, the rest of it seems to work pretty well. The default output is pretty clean and is fairly easy to navigate. It is very featureful and would suit the needs of any group or community, large or small, pretty well.

Unfortunately, most of its features I don’t need. And the few that I do need don’t really add any flexibility over the functionality I have now with Movable Type. So, I won’t be digging much deeper into it.

However, if you need a method to allow a group of people to contribute information and organize it in an easy to manage fashion, Drupal might just be the tool for you.

Smarty version 2.5.0 RC1 has been released. Lots of new tricks, code clean ups, variable modifiers and features.

All $smarty vars can now be dynamic, such as $smarty.get.$foo. A new class function get_function_object() gets you a reference to an assigned object, useful within your own custom functions. append() can now merge as well as append with a third optional attribute. A new class function get_config_vars() was added, and get_template_vars() can now be used to get individual vars. Full variable syntax is now supported within double quotes via a backtick (`) syntax. Files created by smarty are now written to a tmp file then renamed to avoid file lock retention. html_radios, html_checkboxes, html_table, html_image, nl2br functions added.

Get it, test it, love it, use it.

Through some conspiracy in planet alignment, two publications that I read on a daily basis mentioned Marcel Duchamp today. Marcel Duchamp was an artist, or so they say. While, according to his fans, he has created many masterful works of art, the one piece that really made his name known, even to the not-so-artsy world, was entitled “Fountain”.

“Fountain”, currently held by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is very simple in design. It is merely a lavatory urinal acquired from J. L. Mott Iron Works. Now, obviously, someone can’t merely buy something from a manufacturer and submit it as art, no one would accept that. So, instead, Duchamp rotated the urinal ninety degrees from its useful position and wrote the words “R. Mutt 1917″ along the side.

In contrast, Michael Galkovsky, writer and photographer for The Morning News published a photographic piece with a similar theme entitled “Toilets”. It is a sequence of 17 public bathrooms photographed around Austin, Texas.

I’d like you all to participate in a small exercise in art appreciation.

First, take a few minutes to analyze Duchamp’s “Fountain“. Because his art is so genius it may be difficult to understand at first, so I offer you these tips to help the process along. As you are doing so, think about how it makes you feel and what it means to you. Consider how it might be perceived by someone of the opposite sex. Consider how it might be perceived by someone much younger or older than yourself. Consider how it might feel to actually use the urinal in its current position (women: for this portion you are welcome to force your husband, significant other, best friend, or random male stranger to allow you to hold it for them so you can experience a urinal first hand). Go now. Don’t return until you’re finished.

…

Now examine Galkovsky’s “Toilets“. I’ll leave you to your own on this one. Go now.

…

At this point, I’m sure it’s clear to you, my dear readers, who the artist is. Taking photographs of a bunch of dirty bathrooms that someone else made isn’t art. The bathrooms were already designed. Galkovsky isn’t even responsible for making them dirty. On the other hand, Duchamp’s work is stunning and amazing. Who, other than the genius that is Duchamp, would have thought to rotate a urinal ninety degrees? The weight of his social and political statement is overwhelming. And the inscription Duchamp artfully placed on it is nothing less than beautiful.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson in art appreciation. Feel free to discuss your newfound knowledge and new appreciation for Marcel Duchamp.

I give up.

That’s right. I give up.

I care so much about how things work that I never get anything done. I want everything to be perfect all the time and if it can’t be perfect then I won’t accept it at all. This method of thought applies to every aspect of my life. All of this time I laughed in their faces because I didn’t care; I was the guy who did things right. What I didn’t realize was that I was also the guy who wasn’t getting anything done.

When I was in high school, everyone else was getting laid while I was saying “I’m sorry but I can’t see you anymore” to one of the most fun, most attractive girls I’d ever dated because I was too worried about hurting Miss Right’s feelings (who turned out to be Miss very very very very wrong).

After high school, all my friends went off to college to earn degrees and enjoy the college life. Meanwhile, since I couldn’t pick the perfect school that was affordable and could still offer me the best education available in the fields of Chemistry and Theater, I settled for Community College to give me time to make up my mind. I did this despite the hundreds (yes… hundreds) of full-ride scholarships I was offered by many very good institutions.

When my place of employment gave raises to the people I supervised despite the fact that I hadn’t received a raise since I began work there two years prior I stayed where I was because I couldn’t find the perfect job. Eventually, I quit because another job basically fell in my lap. Then the tech job market got hot and everyone who was anyone was earning their fame, fortune, and reputation by jumping on board with the fat salaried dot coms. But not me. I stayed where I was at a job that I hated with a company that I couldn’t stand because I couldn’t find a job that offered me exactly what I wanted.

Even now, this very day, instead of pouring my thoughts and words onto these digital pages as I’ve always intended, I offer short links and half-hearted commentary on a very irregular basis because I can’t find the perfect blogging engine.

I am doomed to be mediocre because I insist on perfection in every aspect of my life.

Something has to change.

But it won’t. That’s just it. I’ll never be able to find the perfect mixture between “all” and “nothing”, and it will remain in this medicore state until I do.

I knew someone would do it eventually. Michael V, author of cafelog/b2, has been claiming that b2 would operate on the Smarty template system in its next version since January of last year. However, to date no Smarty enabled b2 release has ever been made. Finally, someone got tired of waiting and did it themselves.

This b2 and Smarty blend seems to operate pretty well. All the templates are editable from the admin interface which maintains the same look and feel as the rest of the interface. Additionally, it allows for multiple blog hosting. I haven’t looked over the code at all so I’m not sure how clean it is. It does, however, still use the ugly default b2 urls.

This is merely a matter of taste but I don’t like the way the templates are implemented. Most of the pages feed off of one template. And each portion of that page gets its look and feel from other templates. While, in practice, I actually use the template system that way, I don’t like it being dictated in that fashion. I prefer the option to nest the templates in any way that I choose. But, like I said, this is just a matter of taste.

Just in the flexibility and ease of use the Smarty adds to b2, this product is at least twice as good as the original. [via freshmeat]

When Jess and I first drove by this house, I didn’t even notice the sign. I just continued on down the poorly kept street. But when she brought it to my attention I hade to make a U-Turn and see it with my own eyes.

I guess today’s economy calls for getting customers any way you can, which, like in this case, includes coming up with alternate uses for your products.

Jess and I are going on another photo adventure in Dallas today. If you’re interested in coming alone, call or send a text message (pager AT revjim DOT net) and we’ll meet up.