As a matter of fact, if you try to launch an unsigned or unvalidatable app on a Mac with Gatekeeper enabled, the default button is “Move To Trash”. Pretty hardcore. Kind of awesome.

Panic, the developer of my favorite code editor on Mac, wrote a great review of the need for the recently announced Gatekeeper feature, which protects Macs from villainous programs/code.  While I don’t do any Cocoa or Carbon development (I’m all web-based, baby …) — this feature sounds like exactly what’s needed.

Mac users will proceed at their own risk … knowing Apple has their back.

I’m back on Picasa, 99%.   Picasa Web Albums, now known as the photo section of Google+, have fixed most of the “sharing” features I decried (it’s now the CORE of the social network).  They’ve also taken care of the organizational aspects.  No longer am I stuck with a one-off app that does photo uploading at a throttled speed. Google+’s photo section now uses a gorgeous AJAX-based photo uploader that is the promised simplicity of drag-n-drop.

There’s still a couple of things that would seal-the-deal for Picasa Web Albums Google+:

• Enable the oEmbed functionality that Flickr and YouTube have.  Being able to post a link to the album in a blog and have it automatically embed the slideshow / gallery view would be appreciated.
• Give an option for Downloading Full Album.  Right now I post the higher-res versions of photos to my Amazon S3 account and send a link manually.  Giving a Download All option in Google+ like you used to have in Picasa Web Albums would also clear that issue.
• Prepare for Apple TV.  I realize this is probably a port Apple made on their end with the iOS version of Apple TV … but flickr has a section, why can’t I see my Google+ photos as my screensaver rather than my flickr photos?  Do that, and I’m yours … 100%.

People have asked me, “why flickr?” or “why Google+?”  ”Why not Facebook?”  While Facebook has more of my friends than any other network — Picasa reached me first.  When I was studying abroad in Italy during college, Picasa was there, ready to share my photos with my friends / family back in the USA.  Once I had over 30 albums in Picasa, the conversion hurdle became too great.

In the end, all of those photos I’d migrated over to flickr … I stayed with my Google+ and in one click, I was back to the beginning.

Ping me (ask me) if you have questions or need advice for your church’s image hosting setup.

So at the Deacon ordination of one of my seminary friends, I decided going into it, to photograph as if I would convert the whole album to black and white. Exposure was different, color saturation didn’t matter; and, in the end, I pushed through. Limiting myself with that constraint completely unleashed the creativity.  Limits are good.  :)

And the ordination service was extra special as Ian Gerdon, also a friend from the Disciples House, left his wife and newborn son in South Bend and came to Ben’s ordination. It was an unexpected (but expectedly awesome) reunion for many of us!

While black and white photography may be “natural”, there’s certainly a case to make for HDR photos that are still creative and more realistic (even if being more manufactured).

Here’re some HDR blends I took at my parents’ house in November 2011:

Here’re six things I’m waiting on for technology:  (I’ll cross-out these as they develop)

• Region-free iTunes purchasing agreements.  Ordering UK albums shouldn’t be so difficult for American consumers.  Thankfully, there’s always amazon.co.uk , where I got the Downton Abbey soundtrack.
• Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited on the iPad.  I’m a sucker for good plot … ‘nough said.
• Communication Arts as either a periodical or app with in-app purchases on iPad.
• WordPress meta-support for taxonomies as there is for post types.  For the non-geeks, this isn’t a big issue.  But I’m ready for my wp_ update functions on taxonomies to include all the additional custom meta fields I add to the category user interfaces.  (I have at least 4 projects waiting on this … which means I should carve out the time and try to tackle it …)
• Scaling bandwidth limits for Verizon Mifi mobile internet plans.  If Google can raise my total storage incrementally each day, why can’t my bandwidth limit also increase at such a rate?  (Oh wait, it’s quarterly earnings season … I know why now …)
• Widespread 3G access across rural parts of midwest U.S. on Verizon’s network.  ”Can you hear me now?” The classic Verizon ad would now be “can you download me now?”  And in many churches I travel to across Iowa and Minnesota, the answer is “well, give me a couple of hours, and those pictures will come down …”  Having 3G as a base speed would be nice.  I realize it’ll take some bandwidth upgrades for the remote cell towers … but seriously, my grandma in Fairfield, IA has fiber internet in her home.  Pick up the pace, you pseudo-monopolistic, great company!

It is common today to locate one’s “true self” in one’s leisure choices.  Accordingly, good work is taken to be work that maximizes one’s means for pursuing these other activities, where life becomes meaningful.  The mortgage broker works hard all year, then he goes and climbs Mount Everest.  The exaggerated psychic content of his summer vacation sustains him through the fall, winter, and spring.  The Sherpas seem to understand their role in this drama as they discreetly facilitate his need for an unencumbered, solo confrontation with unyielding Reality.  There is a disconnect between his work life and his leisure life; in the one he accumulates money and in the other he accumulates psychic nourishment.

…

On the other hand, there are vocations that seem to offer a tighter connection between life and livelihood.  Can such coherence be traced to the nature of the work itself? …

I’m off!

As I seem to only update this blog on vacations, I wanted to recap/foreshadow my experiences.

I just got back from officiating my cousin’s wedding in Sundance, Utah.  Not only was it scenic, but the couple (Jenny + Jake) are themselves exemplars of beauty.

Heidi and I are mid-trip for a fun week with friends in Portland, Maine. This is the second year in a row that we’ve taken this trip and it’s GREAT. While the “reds” in the tree leafs aren’t as vibrant as in the past, the friends and food are even better than we remembered (both here and on the way here …).

Here’re shots from the train:

The week we were in Santa Fe wasn’t “horrible,” but it wasn’t the normal scenic lusciousness either. The crystal-clear mountains were murky. The air was cough-able.

Here’re the pictures from the first day of our trip:

Heidi and I didn’t realize how much the smoke was affecting us until we left. Then we found out George and April + family decided to leave after we did because of the air conditions. They went on an impromptu vacation to visit family out of state. Hopefully the weather was better there!

Here’s their family:

I convinced this antelope buck to leave the tree sprouts alone — with my bare hands!

Santa Fe is known for its chiles. (Red, Green, or Christmas). Spread over their enchiladas, I preferred Green — but I think that’s just because those were the specialty for the restaurants Heidi and I went to.

And “The French Pastry Shop and Creperie” in downtown Santa Fe was incredible. It made me miss the Medici Bakery in Hyde Park. Anyone who loves high-quality croissants or crepes should make this a priority.

As much as you can “have a blast” at ancient ruins, we really enjoyed Bandelier, Pecos and Chimayo.

Here’s Heidi and I at Bandelier — mid-day in full sunlight made my external flash essential!

And in perhaps the craziest sighting: at the Shiboni art center, I found a bronze Horned Frog. Made this TCU Alum proud:

’twas awesome!

So how does the user input get saved dynamically to the database? It already happens in a similar way with post tags. Users enter them on the fly and they’re processed and the user interface is updated without needing a postback or page refresh.


The hard part was figuring how to tap into the existing AJAX / PHP functions from my child theme. After some deep, deep digging, I found the interactions in the WordPress core.


The key: hook into your php function with ‘wp_ajax_’ appended to the javascript function’s name

add_action('wp_ajax_process_bible_verses', 'bible_verses_ADD_callback');
function bible_verses_ADD_callback() {
	$verses = $_POST['verses'];
	$service = new IDWebService($verses);

	$verses = $service->verses;
	$xml = $service->xml;
	$id_firstBook = $service->id_firstBook;
	$id_firstChapter = $service->id_firstChapter;
	$id_firstVerse = $service->id_firstVerse;
	$id_secondBook = $service->id_secondBook;
	$id_secondChapter = $service->id_secondChapter;
	$id_secondVerse = $service->id_secondVerse;
	$id_sanitizedVerses = $service->sanitizedVerses;
	$exceptionBool = $service->exceptionBool;
	$exceptionMessage = $service->exceptionMessage;

	$verseformat  = $service->GetVerseFormat($verses);

	$service->__destruct(); // Did this to solve memory leak; http://paul-m-jones.com/archives/262
    unset($service); // however, leak probably came about from iterating through objects and not ints

	$post_id = intval( $_POST['post_id'] );

	try {
		if ($exceptionBool == true) {
			//_log('exception prior to checking ...'.$exceptionMessage);
			die('<Error msg="'.$exceptionMessage.'" />');
		} else {
			switch ($verseformat) {
				case "B":
					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C":
					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C:V":
					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstVerse;
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C-C":
					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_secondChapter;
					// NOTE: Need to improve the logic to make this "B C-C" rather than "B C,C"
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C:V-V":
					// check to make sure second verse > first verse
					if ($id_firstVerse >= $id_secondVerse) {
						die('<Error msg="Choose a starting verse before the ending verse">');
					}

					// _log('id_firstverse = '.$id_firstVerse);
					// _log('id_secondverse = '.$id_secondVerse);

					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					for ($i = $id_firstVerse*1; $i < $id_secondVerse*1+1; $i++) {
						$bibleIDs[] = $i;
					}
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C:V,V":
					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstVerse;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_secondVerse;
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "B C:V - C:V":
				case "B C:V - B C:V":
					// check to make sure second verse > first verse
					if ((int)$id_firstVerse >= (int)$id_secondVerse) {
						die('<Error msg="Choose a starting verse before the ending verse">');
					}

					$bibleIDs = array();
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstBook;
					$bibleIDs[] = $id_firstChapter;
					for ($i = $id_firstVerse*1; $i < $id_secondVerse*1+1; $i++) {
						$bibleIDs[] = $i;
					}
					$newCollectionID = bible_verses_addCollection($id_sanitizedVerses, $bibleIDs, $post_id);
					die('<collection id="'.$newCollectionID.'" name="'.$id_sanitizedVerses.'" />');
					break;
				case "Error: Unknown Format (Book should be followed by Chapter number)":
				case "Error: Unknown Format (Are you missing a chapter?)":
				case "Error: Unknown Format (Are you trying to reference more than one verse?  We suggest Book Chapter:Verse - Verse format)":
					echo '<Error ';
					echo 'msg="'.$verseformat.'" />';
					break;
				default:
					echo ',';
					echo '<Error msg="Error: unknown Format" />';
			}
		}

		// IMPORTANT: don't forget to "exit"
		exit;

	} catch (Exception $e) {
		die('<Error msg="'.$e.'" />');
		exit;
	}
}

Once the interaction’s happening correctly, the database insert statements look like normal SQL statements in the PHP:

function bible_verses_addCollection($collectionName, $arrayIds, $post_id) {
	global $wpdb;

	// Add collection to table
	$rowstatus = $wpdb->insert( $wpdb->prefix . "bible_terms_taxonomy", array( 'taxonomy' => $collectionName, 'term_id' => $post_id) );
	$collectionID = $wpdb->insert_id;

	if ($rowstatus == 1) {
		foreach($arrayIds as $elemID) {
			$relationshipRowStatus = $wpdb->insert( $wpdb->prefix . "bible_terms_relationships", array('object_id' => $collectionID, 'term_id' => $elemID));
			if ($relationshipRowStatus == 0) {
				$rowstatus = 0;
			}
		}
		return $collectionID;
	} else {
		return -1;
	}
}

I ended up creating similar AJAX methods for the delete and GET / SELECT so that the Javascript methods had easy PHP functions to call.