TLDs for TLC

Thanks to "Jon", who pointed out that the Top Level Domain (TLD) example.org is reserved for those times when you need a bogus domain for testing or documentation. Go ahead, click it!

Even better, under RFC 2606 four TLDs are reserved for your testing and documentation pleasure. To quote the RFC:

TLD	Purpose
.test	testing of current or new DNS related code
.example	documentation or examples
.invalid	online construction of domain names that are sure to be invalid and which it is obvious at a glance are invalid
.localhost	loop back

It was SOOOO easy...

Man, I saw the link to the WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin, and I thought "Yeah, right, like this is really gonna work". But WP's been bugging me to upgrade from version 2.3.something every time I log in, and it's a Friday night, and I can't be bothered fishing around on the WordPress site to read up on how to do the upgrade, and it's a pain to do the backups, so I went for it.

And you know what? It Just Worked. Migrated all my stuff, kept all my plugins (although, it didn't reactivate them, maybe it wasn't supposed to, I don't remember). Otherwise, it was killer - good feedback, lotsa hand holding and reassurance along the way. Fetched, unpacked and installed the whole thing. Click, click click. And now I have a spiffy new WordPress 2.5.1 install.

Best part? It's free. I made a donation to Keith nonetheless, because he made the upgrade so easy, and to encourage him to keep up the good work. If you've been putting off a WP, hop on over to Keith's site, grab the plugin and try it. I think you'll be happy, and support him, too.

Invisible, indeed!

The book The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See, cited in John Battelle's book The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, describes the problem posed by the unsearchable areas of the Web, such as subscription-only databases. Intrigued, I scooted over to the Invisible Web's companion website, only to find the web is actually just a little bit more invisible than I thought:

Pylons stuff

John Brennan brings us a short Pylons intro Zero to 60 with Pylons… in just minutes (Part 1). Can hardly wait for Part 2!

Also noticed The Definitive Guide to Pylons from Pylons lead developer James Gardner is slated to arrive in July 2008.

Another evaluation of Google AppEngine

Todd Hoff explains how distributed web apps can leverage the much-maligned CGI interface in Google AppEngine - A First Look

Pioneering?

According to an article in yesterday's Vancouver Sun, TNS Canadian Facts' survey on social networking revealed that "ten per cent of Canadians have a blog, ranging from a high of 31 per cent among the 13 to 17-year-old age group to three per cent among the 50-plus crowd". Only eight percent of my peers, the forty-something crowd, have their own blog. I guess that makes me a pioneer, even amongst all Canadians.

Why don't more middle-aged and senior Canadians have blogs? Services like Blogger.com make it as simple to write a blog as an email, so it can't be the technology. Even my 83 year-old great aunt has used email for the past 7 years!

Is it the fear of loss of privacy? Lack of anything to say? Perhaps older Canadians don't feel the need to let the whole world know their every thought. Would there be far less blogging amongst teens if they really realized that the whole world, not just the friends they trust, can read everything they put on Facebook?

What do you think?