April 2003 Archives

In an article I found via Doc's blog,  the complaint/warning is one I've experienced firsthand recently as I attempt to move into Movable Type from Radio:

The greatest problem, however, is not the limitations of the front end of this software, but rather what goes on behind the curtain, so to speak. As bloggers add content to their sites, the programs update and store HTML pages in a collection of directories spread throughout a Web site. Each tool has its own directory structure, its own names for the archives it compiles of past postings, its own method of updating each page.

That way lies trouble. While the actual pages in a blog may be simple HTML, the sum total of elements in a blog is a giant heap of files and folders understood only by the tool a blogger is using at present. What would happen if you were to switch tools tomorrow? With even the simplest blogs, many users would be daunted by the need to move files, change directories, get the new tools to hook up with the old. In short, each new tool would break your current blog. There simply is no portability under the current structure.

I had to look long and hard to find the right tool to move Radio entries to Movable Type,  and after that was done, I still had to face the SHORTCUTS problem (Radio's convenience feature for creating links to other internal entries by using the title of the entry in quotes becomes a hindrance to migrating the blog to another system.  If there was a clearer path to re-generating the links from the Radio "shortcut" ,  or if Radio's file building/updating process of rebuilding blog pages after addtions and updates were a bit more transparent,  then there could be a smoother "interblog" relationship.  But then again,  that might make some Weblog tool makers nervous. 

What's needed is a uniform way for every blog tool to understand the blogs created by another tool and to pick them up when a user switches tools, much like the way browsers can share HTML.

Amen to that.  I would love to find a solution to getting the "Stories" I wrote in Radio (and are the destination to the many of the shortcut links that are ,  as of now,  still "unconverted")

OK, I found where MT puts the category ID (in the MT_placement tabel under placement_category_id (tested it by doing "SELECT * from mt_placement where placement_entry_id = 1554" and result was placement_category_id = 20, which is the ID for myownbiz. I can't seem to get the syntax right on doing a join to show me a recordset with mt_entry.entry _id, mt_entry.entry_status, mt_entry.entry_title, mt_placement.placement_category_id and mt_category.category_description (these fields require fields from mt_entry, mt_placement, and mt_category, with mt_entry to mt_placement on mt_entry.entry_id = mt_placement.placement_entry_id and mt_placement to mt_category on mt_placement.placement_category_id = mt_category.category_id

I did the follwing query on my MT data : SELECT entry_category_id, entry_id, entry_title, entry_status FROM mt_entry WHERE entry_status = 1 ORDER BY entry_id wouldn't I get some hits if I can go to my Edit entries and see results by filtering where Category = one of the categories in the list???

What's the best way to get all of my Radio-created STORIES (longer posts) into Movable Type?  Related to this are the many "Shortcuts" used in Radio ,  typically a phrase in quotations,  whn it matches an entry title or a Story Ttitle,  is converted to a link.  I don't see much hope for this one,  excpet that if someone wrote the Radio application to create these shortcut links and then identify them from a list when the shortcut is used (ie. "Post Title Number 1") and in the process of publishign the entry, Radio changes these shortcuts to links,  which are stored in an XML file or database somewhere.  If that process could be reversed,  so that the posts which have shorcuts in them could be "reassigned" their links ----Radio does this in the process of re-publishing when it combines the xml based txt files with the templates,  creating html files.  There would have to be a "MOvable Type" script run that performs the same conversion,  perhaps replacing the identified shortcuts with their links.  Is there anybody else out there struggling with this?   (BTW,  I have already imported all my posts,  and all the quoted shortcuts, ie. "Shortcut Number One" are still there  (with no conversion done, of course)

Footbridge works ok for new posts,  but I can't find the answer to why it re-posts a new post for items that I edit in Radio.  For instance,  the previous post about GRUB went up,  and it cross posted to my MT blog.  But when I edited the post and re-posted,  the Radio edit happens ,  but the new version gets posted as a brand new one on my MT Blog (I went into MT's "Manage Weblog" and deleted it (the first one,  since I wanted the one with the latest changes)  Don't know if there's a fix for this one.

Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs Blog talks about GRUB,  which is a system like SETI at home except it crawls and indeex the Web:

LookSmart: Distributed Search. Like SETI@Home, LookSmart's Grub screensaver runs in the background or when the computer is idle. But instead of searching for signs of intelligent aliens, Grub crawls the Net to build an index for Web searches.

In a matter of days, the number of people running Grub jumped from less than 100 to more than 1,000. As of Wednesday, the system was crawling more than 26 million Web pages, according to the site's Web page.

LookSmart is confident that the number of Grub volunteers will continue to grow, and is hopeful that in time -- perhaps several months -- the system's "distributed crawl" will be capable of indexing all of the Web's estimated 10 billion pages -- every day.

[Smart Mobs]

I have a Blogroll in Radio which is in opml. I also have a MYSubscriptions list that I'd like to display in MT. How do I do this? Any veterans of this?

I love how MT mails you when you get a comment! I do wish they had a News Reader! Guess I 'll keep using Radio's reader until I find something independent or goes with MT well.

I subscribed to my MT syndication, and sure enough, all the posts, from any Cateogry, including the Main Category, gets syndicated. This is going to be a little "break-in" period. Haven't even begun to explore TrackBack yet.

Why does the text in the entries go off the screen? That requires the reader , unless they have a really wide screen, to scroll sideways, which is pretty rude of a webpage. HOw can I fix this?

I do not seem to have any way to get out of April on myblog calendar in MT. In Radio, there was a Previous Month and Next Month text link beneath the calendar. How does one navigate the archives without a link to other months? Did I omit a key step?

Exporting Radio Stories (for importing into Movable Type).  Can this be done?  Anybody point me to some ways to do so?  I have a BUNCH of  stories done in Radio.

Another gap in the import into MT:  All the "Shortcut" references,  since they were exported from Radio,  are exported with the Shortcuts in quotes,  and are not converted to links (since Radio does this in the process of building the page from the text and the template).  All the shortcut references are now just "text" like that.  Useless.   Surely some of you other "exporters of Radio blogs to MT blogs" have met this problem? 

I relaized that one of my favorite tools in Radio, the "Story", is something I don't know how to import, or if it is possible. Since there are txt files for all the stories, seems like there would be a way.

How does one empty the MT database of posts only? I want to re-import my Radio posts using Bill Kearney's exporter tool (I got it working and saw that it exports categories). Has someone got a script (I use MySQL and dbManager as the admin tool)

The Radio export I got from TechnoWeenie (that's really the name of the Blog) worked,  but I don't know what to do to get the Categories included,  since Radio created separate xml files for each category which included a list in the XML of which Radio post IDs belong to that category:

Sample:

<table name="For Sale">
 <date name="dateLastUpload" value="Fri, 25 Apr 2003 04:28:24 GMT"/>
 <string name="description" value="Stuff for Sale"/>
 <string name="displayName" value="For Sale"/>
 <string name="fileName" value="forSale"/>
 <boolean name="flNotifyWeblogsCom" value="true"/>
 <boolean name="flRenderHtml" value="true"/>
 <string name="htmlUrl" value="http://theoblogical.org/dlature/categories/forSale/"/>
 <string name="language" value="en-us"/>
 <string name="lastThemeApplied" value="discreetRadioBlogBlack"/>
 <string name="rssUrl" value="http://theoblogical.org/dlature/categories/forSale/rss.xml"/>
 <list name="storyList">
  <long value="1310"/>
  <long value="1313"/>
  <long value="1315"/>
  <long value="1311"/>
  <long value="1316"/>
  <long value="1317"/>
  <long value="1312"/>
  <long value="1320"/>
  <long value="1319"/>
  <long value="1314"/>
  <long value="1318"/>
  </list>
 <table name="theme">
  <string name="archiveLinkImgTag" value="&lt;%radio.macros.imageref (&quot;images/bryanBell/discreetBlogBlack/blackPermaLink.gif&quot;)%&gt;"/>
  <string name="enclosureImgTag" value="&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.scripting.com/images/sound.gif&quot; height=&quot;11&quot; width=&quot;10&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;"/>
  <string name="itemPermaLinkImgTag" value="&lt;%radio.macros.imageref (&quot;images/woodsItemLink.gif&quot;)%&gt;"/>
  <table name="navigator">
   <string name="itemFormat" value="&lt;%item%&gt;"/>
   <string name="separatorFormat" value="&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;"/>
   </table>
  <string name="sourceImgTag" value="&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.scripting.com/images/source.gif&quot; height=&quot;13&quot; width=&quot;22&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;"/>
  </table>
 </table>

Seems like there would be a way to apply the storyList values to the MT database that's in MySQL,  and change all the categories of those posts,  that is,  if MT hasn't assigned new numbers (which it probably did....)   more in a minute after I look into the specifics of this

my WeblogData.root file seems to be OK after the Data compacting process hung up when it hit this file..  at least from what I could tell by the dispaly in the Status bar of the Radio app.  It seems Ok becuase I went back and edited my very first Radio entry from June 2, 2002.  It all seemed to re-publish just fine.  My weblogdata.root file is 5626 KB.  The only way I could get the hourglass to stop was to trerminate the Radio app from the Windows  Task Manager.  When I restrted Radio,  all my data seems fine (ie. the edit of the very first entry went fine,  and a new entry went up fine,  which seems that would take care of the beinning and end of the file).

Radio Problems are so many now,  I have statrted posting them inmy MyRadioTrials section so that I don't clutter up my home page with posts that some may not be interested in that are receiving my RSS feeds.  Check here for the gory details.  (At least I'm still able to post)

I can no longer compact my data files (well,  all of them will except for WeblogData.root

Each time I try,  the Radio app stops responding.

In search of a DotNet Powered Weblog software.   Any recommendations?   I figure if there is a dependable,  well-supported DotNet Powered Weblog system,  then that might be a better option to go to than Movable Type,  excited as I am that I got one installed and working,  it's been a bit more than I expected to get my Radio blog imported into it.  I got the posts over, but the Categories didn't come with them,  and I couldn't figure out how to get different categories other than the Main Category posts to go a different section of the Blog.  (If anybody out there knows an answer to either of these,  please offer it in comments)

Let's see how the old publishing speed is today with radio.  1,2,3 blastoff (10:23am by my pc clock....later,  10:28....still no post up on my site.....THIS is getting REALLY OLD........10:36,  after posting the post that will be AFTER this one,  I see that this post finally got out here.....10 -15 minutes.  Not exactly stellar.  )

Well,  another problem (which seems to happening a lot lately also:  My Radio icon in my tray at the lower right has gone bye-bye.  I can't right click on it to tsee the status of my post (I watch the progress this way, to see what's showing in the status bar of the little radio app that comes up when I right-click on the icon .  Now how do I get that back without rebooting?  Seems like there'd be a file I can run to get it going again.  If I post that question to the Radio support discussion,  it might take 3 posts and a week to get an answer,  so if anybody resding my feed can see this ,  HELP!!

I went to my parents' Church today, since it was easter and we don't excatly have a Church we're all gung ho about, (I like Glendale a lot, but its a long haul and I still want to find a Youth Program where there are school friends for my son, and the pickin's seem awfully slim out our way.

I've been combing through scores of Google hits on queries such as "Import Radio into Movable Type" and such ,  and its not as easy as I had thought it might be. Seems that with XML as the standard for weblogs, this could be a little easier.  I finally did get a tool that seemed simple enough,  and I ran it on my XML files that Radio produces,  but it didn't grab my categories -- or the XML archives saved the categories in a strange way so that the Radio to Movable Type program  (I got it from some technoweenie -- that's his blog name) didn't know about them,  and so the Movable Type inport tool didn't either. Bummer.  All the posts were imported into the Main Category in my MT BLog (which for now I'm calling Movable Theoblogical)

Weblogsky is blogging the Emerging Technologies Conference. Maybe someday I'll be doing something that sends me to these things.  I can just sense the cool-ness of the social atmosphere, and the excitement in the air (doesn't hurt much that its in California either).

article update for "Google Watch"

Yesterday I was bemoaning the Theology/Technology quagmire; which is the "fine mess" I find myself in.  I have what I consider a unique combination of "qualifications",  which seem to have me fall short on both sides of the ledger.  The secular companies rarely look past the "lack of techical degrees" and tend to look with suspicion upon my ASP skills because I use a tool like Dreamweaver to build my initial base functionality.  To me,  it seems that this is an issue of how "low level" one goes in their programming.  ASP programmers who use notepad (basically go it alone,  using their rote memory.....even many of these are now using "code snippets" for repeated bits of code,  which is basically what Dreamweaver provides for me.  It inserts all the creation of connections and recordsets and the data access parameters,  and then I go in and pepper the code with if-thens, etc.)

On the Church side,  my technical skills seem overkill to organizations where their concept of online community means email lists.  There does not yet seem to a base strategy for exploring social tools.  A whole online sociology beckons the Church to enter into this field of study for the sake of involvement with and in the world,  at the point where conversations are happening and people ask questions and seek meaning.  A WIRED article this month, Inside the Soul of the Web,  observes how at Google,  there is watch kept by a computer installed in an office hallway,  on hundreds of thousands of questions posed as Google searches,  representing mankind's questions. 

So why is Google devoting a large , collating, aggregating machine,  summing up these "human questions" ,  and there is not a Church denomination or agency that has thought of this first?  Isn't this what one would consider the domain of a people who are charged with the task of being spiritual companions to such questions?  Here is an instance where technical knowledge (it took a group,  such as Google,  with some knowledge of the tools and possibilities available, to devise such a "culling and summary device".  And therein lies the main reaon why Churches need to be setting up their "Media Labs" such as that set up at MIT (see previous article). More on this in Google Watch

There is an immense need for people who can see the connections between technical possibilities and the ministry issues,  and it takes someone with a foot in each door to help bridge the gap between the programmer/developers and the visioneers,  where a great gap of communication exists. 

I've added more to the article in  The Theology and Technical Training Quagmire 

What a bummer it is for someone like me,  whose graduate work was in theology and Religious Commuication,  and then later learned Web technology (or at least,  BEGAN to...it never gets LEARNED,  since the things you learn become superceded by newer or better versions or products).....all my tech learning came by teaching myself and through the past 6 years (5 and a half of that in a professional capacity,  getting training paid for and hands-on use of Web Servers, Development software,  etc).   The learning is the best legacy I take with me of the years I spent wokring for a Church related agency,  and the feelings of  "it's their loss" when I consider how rare it is to have the combinations of Web technology skills and theological training.   Which makes it hard to get a job "out there",  because I'm not as "qualified" on many fronts as many other "programmmers" and "Web developers". I don't have technical degrees.  I have an M.Div. and and an MA in Religous Communication (MARC),  obtained 10 years apart from each other (MDiv 1981, MARC 1991)

1991 was pre-Web,   and I did not ,  as of yet,  have a framework for the coming online commuication revolution that I saw coming.  There were no "Information Technology Directors" in Seminaries,  and very few if any at Denominational Headquarters,  other than your non-theologically trained,  technical grads of Mainframe environments.  I had just begun to "mess around" with Bulletin Boards as a by-product of "messing with" Amigas (Commodore Computers specially tweaked to do Video Graphics) which United Seminary in Dayton had in their Audio/Video Studio.  (The studio was given to me as a charge to fulfill a student "Work Study" job to get the Studio "re-connected", "tweaked",  and in some semblance of a working lab (all this was happening in 1990 and the first half of 1991).   More in "The Theology and Technical Training Quagmire" 

One who is,  like me,  ProLife AND Anti-War;  a rare combination these days, and logically, one has to wonder why. ....

After an Easter Sunday at an SBC church we visited today (as part of some Easter get togethers),  I knew I was going to be disturbed about how most just don't bring the enormous evils of the war machine and its propaganda  that seemingly gets easily absorbed into a peaceful co-existence with their theology ,  all on the basis of some "just war" ideas that are a far cry from the original idea,  conveniently "loosened" to create huge loopholes where there were none.   Read on in "God Bless the USA, Southern Baptist Style"

Warning: the following blog is rated CS for conservatism combined with smugness (and found through taking a peek at what Glenn Reynolds had to say today)

Yeah, buddy,  just as long as you're not the one who has to live there and see thousands of your fellow citizens killed by those "whoops, sorry,  we didn't mean to kill you civilians, but darn it , doggone it, shucks,  that's war" missiles.  Read this smug analysis (or maybe you're just tired of reading such after reading one too many of them --which is many cases is exactly ONE ---  so skip over it if this is so):

So, to my friends in the anti-war movement: you were right. None of what has transpired so far has done so in your name, and none of what transpires in Iraq in the future will do so in your name. Not in your name. In mine. Josh Chafetz is a graduate student in politics at Merton College, Oxford, the co-founder of the Oxford Democracy Forum, and the co-editor of OxBlog.

When I moved the previous post in this section from the home page to this category,  Radio uploaded all the archive files since 4/10 again before finaly posting the index.html and rss.xml file for the  - My Radio Trials -  category.  Go figure.  The files had been put there as late as yesterday, so why the "reupstreaming"? 

Read about it here:  details

Radio is up to the same tricks today.  Edit a post,  post to weblog,  no change to weblog (except that it sends the archive file into my/2003/04/19.html,  but still no new index.html for my home page.   Very cool. 

This post didn't go at all,  archive or index.html the first time I pushed "Post to Weblog" (as of 3:09pm).  (l2 minurtes later: after submitting this paragraph,  index.html went,  along with all of Aprils's 2003/04/01.html through 19.html. I must admit,  I'm totaly in the dark as to what might be happening.  And why it takes three edit/new post submisisons to "Goose" radio into coughing up the new index.html file,  I do not know)

The entire process took about 30 minutes,  to update one post and add ONE new one.  30 minutes later,  my chages are all there.  I also notice that my machine hard drive light continues to churn and no apps can be run for at least a minute after all the icons have loaded,  and from the looks of the Process Tab in the Windows Task Manager,  it seems to be Radio that's generating all the activity,  jumping back and forth between System Idel Process and Radio.exe for CPU cycle usage percentage honors.

 

Via phil ringnalda dot com

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Interesting looking....need to check back on this one.  Found it via the GeoDog Blog (where the previous post about the Saddam Statue)

Interesting article I found while seaching for Radio to Movable Type conversion/import tools and suggestions.

"Two years ago, when friends suggested to me that the sudden rise in energy prices in California was the result of collusion between the energy companies, I laughed at them and called them conspiracy theorists."

FootBridge has a few problems from where I sit.  When you "Edit" a post and resubmit it,  it re-sends another new post to Movable Type.  That won't do.

Building An ASP.NET Intranet-  I picked this up to help me understand what's happening in the IBuySpy Portal Kit,  an open source .Net framework for building a remotely administrata-able website that uses lots of components and incorporates Web services.

Footbridge Doesn't Seem to like my Category List. I tried it first with one Category (Cluetrain) and Home Page.   When I entered the parameters needed to send them to Movable Type,  the application (Footbridge) saved the CLuetrain settings but not the "Home Page" settings.  A Cluetrain categoryposting worked and appeared on MT,  but the Home Page entry did not appear on MT.  I wrote Mark Paschal about it,  after he was nice enough to reply quickly to me on my initial setup questions.

Oh,  BTW,  A Frog in the Valley was the one who posted a comment telling me about Footbridge.  I wonder how many categories they work with?

It's been a while for me here, what with looking for a job, haviong another prostate biopsy (checked out OK for the second time....the first was sept.2001). I have been hammering away at some .net stuff (Pronounced "DotNet") that provides some pretty good starting framework for some "portal" type applications, which I am using for 2 purposes:

1. To have a prototype system to present to some folks at the CBF Resource Cneter in Atlanta to help them publish an e-zine and better connect them with each other and with their audience. I am also working some Weblog tools into the mix. I have just installed MOvable Type on my new Webhost who charge only 9.95 a month for .Net, ASP classic, SQL server, MYSQL, Perl, and more. The only catch is that I had to pay a year up front, but at 9.95, even paying for that on my home equity line of credit and today's crazy-low interest rates is a drop in the bucket.

2. To use this same framework to begin building "Church Website frameworks" that provide for remote administration and editing, which allows Church office staff and assigned laity to do updates and add new content, as well as provide discussion boards and , with my Weblog integration, allow for staff and members to write and maintain weblogs. The weblog tool I've been using since June 2002 , Radio Userland, is the source of most of my blogging so far (http://theoblogical.org). My Movable Type version has started at http://theoblogical.org/movtyp, but iit has none of the content except for about 3 entries. I tried out a "Cross posting" tool thatis supposed to allow me to have posts from one tool get posted to both Weblog locations, so that a post to my home page (Main Category) will show up at both URLs given above.

Maybe a third purpose for this .Net toolset is for me to extend on all the ideas I have been throwing around in my head (and publicly in places like Ecunet for the past 10 years), and tie all these evolutionary concepts together in a Portal/Forum/Weblog site that presents my concepts in an incarnational way (ie. Talking about my visions and doing so via the use of the tools I am suggesting)

It's a bit satisfying to realize that this .Net stuff I'm using was the issue that finally brought all the problems to a head with me and my previous job -- .Net was in the process of becoming the "platform" that the company was using to begin to tie together various applications with in the enterprise, and allow a broader range of interoperability. They were distributing Visual Studio.Net to all the developers in the company, even to those who have yet to open their software package (since they don't really have much to do with the actual building of applications.) I was in the midst of an online training series in which I was taking some introductory courses in .Net. When the course was about to begin that covered Visual Studio.Net, I asked for a copy of it to be distributed to me (it cost the company about $80 for a Professional Version). I was told that it was not relevant to my responsibilities. I was also told that I would be "distracted" from my responsibilities. It didn't seem to sink in that a LARGE portion of those responsibilitie involved connecting to the company Web user database to authenticate users logging in to a Website our department had built (I was the lone developer, and also had been a developer in the use of the original LDAP system with other websites in our department).

This Church system I am begining to build will be a vindication of the "skills development track" I had set forth in my "performance Goals" I had been forwarding, but had been basically ignored.

The best answer to that is to succeeed in building something that succeeds in helping Churches realize the efficiencies and communication revolutions that a fully integrated and ever-present Website can provide, and lift up the "Cluetrain Manifesto" approach that holds highest the value of conversation, and encouraging people to exploit their deepest passions and connect to others who share that passion. It seems that in the Church, this should be a no-brainer, but I see VERY LITTLE of that realization as I look at Church Websites, Church Denominational websites, and Church Communication agencies websites.

1. For days ,  my postings take an hour or so to finally post to my site.  Radio semes to have schizophrenic problems,  going back and re-posting archive files from 4/01 and forward,  even though those postings 2003/04/01.html through today,  have already gone out.  I turned off XML archiving,  and then turned it back on last night before hitting the sack,  and this morning I see that most of the archiving happened --FINALLY ---but upon my first post attempt today,  Radio showed that it was trying to upload another XML file...but upon checking that file in its destination (C:\Program Files\Radio UserLand\backups\weblogArchive)  ,  the file seems to have been completed.  I'll try turning archiving back on after I post this entry,  and hopefully it will go without a hitch now that Radio seems to have become agreeable again and posting things when I hit "Post to Weblog".

Are there some FTP problems here?  I have seen no  difference in performance with any of my other FTP apps between the hosting provider I was previously using,  and the present one.  With Radio,  it seems to have problems posting to the same FTP site.  All of these problems seem to have started when I switched hosts.  But why does it do "partial uploads" (ie. posting the permalink archive file but not the index.html file? The main problem seems to be all the "cleanup" or "catchup" Radio keps thinking it has to do before posting the entry that I am trying to "Post to Weblog".

a post to "goose" Radio into posting correctly again

Well, wadd'ya know! It worked!  I'm gonna rant on this some in MYRadioTrials.

Finally,  archiving began last night around 1 am.  This was the third or fourth time I had turned XML archiving off  and then on again.  Right now,  I am looking at the asynchRPC in the status bar of the Radio application,  and it has shown "Writing XML version of post #1606 for the past 10-15 minutes.   My home page entry that I submitted has not yet updated.  This is why I am pleading for a first priority on posting weblog entries just made instead of placing these lower in priority than certain cleanup tasks Radio thinks it must do.  So....I'm going to post this entry now,  and see if that "unsticks" the writing of XML version of post #1606 (which is still showing as current activity)....maybe if I turn archiving off for a moment,  and repost?

A test to Post to Movable type with Footbridge tool  ....

Not working yet.....see my Radio category   

MOvable Type importing:  What's the best way to get my Radio Weblog into MT?  Ideally, I would like to cross post to both for a while.  Can MT send postings to Radio as well?   What about Categories?  MT has them.  Do they work the same way as in Radio, or how are they different.

Archiving XML has jot happened since 8/20/02.  I turned this on about 3-4 days ago,  and nothing has archived.  Any ideas?

Coming up on 5 months (the 21st) of joblessness.   I have been VERY busy working on some webhosting and web applications to help Churches and organizations do more efficient communications,  and I want also to be able to help these same groups get into blogging,  and so I have set up Movable Type,  but have set that aside after some initial attempts to find a successful import mechanism from Radio to MT.  One reason I have been unsuccessful is that Radio has not been generating my XML archives,  even though I have this feature turned ON.  Any help that can be offered ,  please do so here in my "MyRadioTrials" category.

It would be nice to have an automatic category selector for the navbar,  so that when a category is added,  a checkbox is available to "add it to the nav bar",  which would then update the templates...but that would require a full re-upstream again,  which is one of the reasons why a server application is preferrable to a desktop solution.

I never noticed before Radio having a problem creating a new Category directory.  When I created one under my "Cateogories" folder for "movableType",  then the index files and the rest went up.  What's the deal?

"Movable Theoblogical" announces my first successful Movable Type install.

Movable type is now installed here.  I am seeking the quickest  route to populating the movable type blog with content from my Radio blog (this one here).  Any Comments,  emails,  sugegstions welcome.

I am seeking the best avenue to provide Weblog consulting, maintaining,  and generl evangelism on the possibilities for weblogging  in the Church.

The tool I found here

When I try to run http://127.0.0.1:5335/exporter/ by clicking the link "exportMT",   I get this:

ExportMT

[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "usetitle" hasn't been defined.]

Seeking a tool to help me import my Radio Blog into Movable Type.  I finally got a Movable Type install running on my new host,  where MySQL data is supported in addition to SQL Server AND ASP/Net.  I downloaded an exporter.root file last night from here,  but I get an error  when I try it (see MyRadioTrials post here ).  My ideal is to set up an automatic cross-post that upates both (http://theoblogical.org/ and http://theoblogical.org/movtyp ) .  I am looking into Movable Type to check out the additonal features like TrackBack, and also to look into setting up multiple blogs.

Scott Rosenberg pointed out this Washington Post article. 

Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries -- including trade, information, planning, health and education -- remain unprotected.

"Why just the oil ministry?" Jaf asked. "Is it because they just want our oil?"

A seemingly logical question;  but certainly  one which so many dismiss as the mantra of the protesters.  Yet,  it does hlep to have some healthy cynicism concerning the ability of US economic interests to see beyond the things that play to these interests.  It's money that corrupts.  It's true everywhere and for all time.  Do we REALLY think that this adminstration (or any other) is IMMUNE?  It only stands to reason,  and realism,  and a recognition of the ,  yes,  SINFUL nature of humans ,  US government included,  especially when it comes to matters of economic interest. 

Has anybody come up with a reasonably effective tool for filtering out these Scam emails posing as some African diplomat whose husband just died and left all this money in some bank account and want me to send them some money to secure the release of X dollars to me.  Practically every day I get one of these suckers.  I use Outlook,  so is there some good set of "Subject" filters or From: fliters that seem to work?  I am so tired of these.

Radio subscription list from Mike James' Radio weblog (2002) about computing, politics, and faith

Bill Maher just had on a guy from Iraq,  and although Maher seemed to be taking the side (I'm not too familiar with his views) of the "typical person on the street" toward the "success of the Iraq war",  I was impressed that the Iraqi prof and the perspective he brought was actually aired.  He was bringing to the table the kinds of things the article I pointed to in the previous post

Sobering, stark ponderance of some of the things we don't hear amongst all the "we won"

"The staggering cost " | from Mike James

This latest WIRED got me going on the perpetual frustration I have with how "out of it" Churches and their Communications agencies are with regards to the Net.  Here we have one of the most amazing and potential-rich communication tool in human history,  and the Churches still see it as a glorified brochure (and not all that glorified).  MIT's Media Lab was a place to "explore",  and when the tech boom was booming,  companies poured in th money,  and venture capitalists circled like buzzards.  The thing is,  the strength of the Web as a medium for Community,  and for story-telling is expanding,  and as the Web technologies expand and grow to encompass multimedia and blogs and Web Services and such,  the range of possibilities for creatively "telling a story" and linking these storytellers together is skyrocketing,  but most Church agencies will ask "What's a Weblog?"  and "What's a Web Service" (and the answer is NOT "putting your Church Service on the Web"....cool as that might be....)  but Web Services which allow Church communities to keep their finger on the pulse of related efforts, kindred minds and hearts,  and important news,  from the world or from their Church Community.  | Read the Article  | Read my other comments about the Lab article 

Site I found doing a Referrer Listing (I'm on their blogroll)

NKOC - A New Kind of Christian life Journeys into life - Exploring our story together Life is a conversation

Some of the thoughts from an article  The Church-Internet (dis)connection
by  Andrew Careaga

Instead of debating among ourselves whether authentic community can exist over the Net, why don't we go out into all the world of cyberspace and be part of the community that does indeed exist on the Net? Who knows? Maybe the church can add some authenticity to what's out there. We in the church must change our way of thinking about the Internet. If we don't, we'll end up with our own subculture online, just as we have in "real life."

This is from an interesting story about a politician:

Along with ministerial assignments Tanner â018became acquainted with the Church of the Saviour in Washington DCâ019. He enrolled in its Servant Leadership School and came under the influence of the World War II chaplain, Gordon Cosby, who founded the church and its internationally acclaimed outreach ministry to the poor. The church is also known for its rich variety of programmes to help Christians apply their faith more effectively. Tanner was struck by its mission and began thinking, with others, about how to strengthen the links between faith and politics. One friend he consulted was Robin Britt, a Democratic lawyer who shared his convictions. Read whole article

From reGeneration Online

Essential to the Church of the Saviour's mission group model is the sometimes-lengthy process of discerning a corporate "call," something that God is clearly drawing that particular group to do together in mission. At Rockridge, one small group within the church began to explore the problem, familiar to many urban churches, of how to maintain a truly indigenous and creative presence within the church's neighborhood. In 1996, their search led these eleven members to covenant together to create one of the first Christian cohousing communities in the nation.

The following is from the home page of the Alliance (click the above link)

The following groups are financially independent, separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations created out of The Church of the Saviour to bring a community-based support system to the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Jubilee Housing was founded in 1973 with the mission to provide decent and affordable private housing for low-income people and access to services helping residents lead more independent lives. Jubilee Housing rents apartments at rates far below the market so those most in need can afford to live there. Residents are encouraged to participate in decision-making, management and improvement of their buildings. Jubilee Housing serves as a demonstration model for communities across the nation.

Christ House, a medical recovery facility for homeless men, provides the healing combination of around-the-clock medical care, a dining room that provides three meals a day and a caring community of physicians and nurses.

Columbia Road Health Services is a community-based health center. CRHS provides quality, affordable health care to many of the District's most vulnerable residents - the homeless, refugees, working poor families and the elderly - on a sliding fee scale based on income.

The Family Place offers prenatal and parent education courses, individual and family counseling, a nutrition program, HIV services, and special support for adolescent mothers and handicapped children to more than 300 new families a year.

Good Shepherd Ministries offers several programs to serve the at-risk children of Adams Morgan. A variety of programs are offered for children - from toddlers through high school - including summer activities and special camps. An emphasis is placed on college admission and vocational counseling.

Samaritan Inns provides formerly homeless men and women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction with the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Transitional Inns and longer-term single room occupancy housing bridge the gap between homelessness and independent living.

Jubilee Jobs was the idea of Jubilee Housing residents during the recession in 1981. This employment agency assists the unskilled or semi-skilled in locating appropriate marketplace jobs. Jubilee Jobs places over 600 inner city residents annually.

Sarah's Circle is an inter-generational residential community that empowers elderly persons of limited means to live with dignity in a safe and supportive environment. Sarah's Circle contains 34 apartments and a senior center that serves residents and neighborhood seniors.

In addition to these organizations, the following organization has taken the mission of Jubilee Housing and created an organization to serve another DC community:

Jubilee Enterprise of Greater Washington was founded in 1990 and was originally based on the model provided by Jubilee Housing. Working with the assistance of the federal, state and local governments, banking and corporate partners, Jubilee Enterprise provides housing to low-income families in Southeast Washington.

COS also birthed:

Miriam's House is a residence for homeless women living with AIDS, including some who have children. It is a community in which compassionate attention is given to the housing, medical, personal and spiritual needs of its residents. The Miriam's House program offers comprehensive services and support for recovery and sobriety. These services support two programs; a transitional program for women who recover health and move on to independent living, and a hospice-like program for women who are living their last days.

Opening of the article from The Other Side:

THE WORDS OF THE PROPHET MICAH ARE FAMILIAR: What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (8:6) But what if our love of mercy chokes out our ability to act justly? Since 1983, I have worked as a doctor with poor people in the inner city of Washington, D.C. I began at Community of Hope Health Services, a small church-sponsored clinic, and at Christ House, a thirty-four-bed medical recovery shelter for homeless men. In 1990, I founded Joseph's House, a ten-bed community for homeless men with AIDS where I work now. I intend to continue working there. But I've been having misgivings. I have begun to see some "side effects" to the kind of work I do, and they concern the important difference between justice and charity. Justice has to do with fairness, with what people deserve. It results from social structures that guarantee moral rights. Charity has to do with benevolence or generosity. It results from people's good will and can be withdrawn whenever they choose. To put the question most bluntly: Do our works of charity impede the realization of justice in our society?

We desperately need new structures. The home church may provide an answer but meeting in houses is no solution if the only thing we’re interested is meeting informally. Being a church that is indeed transformational will not be the easier road to travel. Internet community is fine but it simply isn’t incarnational living but we can use it to encourage one another in our walk. This is a call for people to consider leaving institutional “church” for small groups (no more than 15 to 20 adults and as small as two or three gathered in His name) of people who are committed to a different agenda. Let us network together for encouragement as we seek the inward journey of getting to know Christ and the joy that is found in him. Let the agenda be the one anothers. In new and fresh ways let us remember the orphan, the widow, the single mom or dad, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor. Let us be living stones who are connected to the chief cornerstone Jesus. Drop me a line and let me know about your journey

The Family Place is a community drop-in center that provides hospitality, resources, and support services to expectant parents and families with young children

Doing one of my periodic searches for "Church of the Saviour" and "Washington",  I ran across this site for Christ House

Trackback feature on SecondBlog test (so I guess I link to the TheoblogicalCommunity ).....no,  link to Blogworks2

This is my first server side blog tool (Blogworks) and I have a Movanle Type installation that is awaiting the admins to install DB_File