Don't Back Down

December 2007

  • How to Best Handle Spam on Your Movable Type Site

    To build a community, you need your visitors to comment on your site. Unfortunately when you do that, you open up your site to others who you might not want to come calling – namely spammers, who will leave all sorts of garbage on your (virtual) doorstep. While…

  • Enhancing the Display of Images on Your Site with Slimbox

    I'm not a big user of images – though I have a digital camera, I typically end up using it less than I probably should. I think one of my goals for next year will be to actually get some of the images off the memory card in…

  • XBMC Won't Play AVI Files

    A while back, I converted an original XBox to something new – an XBOXMEDIACENTER. It actually was a whole lot easier than I expected. I didn't even have to open it up, because through the judicious use of eBay, I managed to find a copy of the original…

  • Family Night at the Charlotte Checkers

    On Tuesday night, we decided to head out for the annual Everitz Consulting Christmas Party. What's that? You think just because I'm a Movable Type Consultant, I can't have a Christmas Party? Think again. Anyway, we decided that we'd take in a Charlotte Checkers game, which thanks to…

  • Convert RightFields Data to CustomFields

    If you use Movable Type, there's a good chance that you use plugins. And if you took the plugin survey, there's a good chance that you use a plugin to add extra fields to your installation: Roughly one-third of people polled used either CustomFields or RightFields to provide…

  • Install Movable Type Under Apache Tomcat

    I haven't done a lot of work with Apache Tomcat previously, so when someone asked if they could install Movable Type, I had to do a bit of digging to see if it was possible. The answer is actually yes – but it's not the most intuitive installation….

  • Have Gift Cards Gone Too Far?

    Since it's my birthday, I thought I'd talk about something that really bugs me about gift cards. As I'm filling up at the gas station, I look up and see a sign that reads "Give the gift they wont want to regift". Yes, that's right – a gift…

  • Using Pageant with PuTTY at pair Networks

    One of the reasons I like pair Networks is the shell account. I don't always need shell access, but it's really useful to have it when I do need it. Much better than the alternative – needing it and not having it. One question that comes up when…

  • How to Export Tags from Movable Type 3.3x

    Over on Learning Movable Type, Jaclyn asked why she wasn't able to get tags imported to a new MT4 installation. While Movable Type 4 includes an entry's tags in the import specifications, and also exports those tags when saving the data, no prior versions have exported the tags,…

  • Firefighters Sell You Tickets You Won't Use

    It's no secret that I'm not a fan of overpriced fundraisers. Just look at the Girl Scouts. I mean I'll eat some cookies and all, but the way they sell those overpriced boxes of heaven is just ridiculous. Why don't they just ask for the money? I don't…