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Physics for Entertainment

xkcd — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:21:12 PDT

Update: I’m finally home after a month or so of nonstop events, including several xkcd book fund-raisers/signings. I met tons of cool people, we raised a lot of money for the EFF and Room to Read, and at one point I signed a book for a robot. Thank you to everyone who ordered a copy, by the way! I hope you like it. They’re shipping out nicely, and we’re about ready to order a second printing.

The events and travel were a huge amount of fun, and I loved getting to talk to (or at) so many of you cool people. But I’m an introvert at heart, and after doing that much socializing I feel a powerful urge to hide in my room for about a month. At some point in my travels I seem to have picked up a cold that’s been keeping me down for a couple days, so it’s just as well that I don’t have any more events on the immediate calendar. There’s no fever, so it’s not swine flu, but it’s keeping me awake at night and I’m going through a lot of tissues and cough medicine. But it should blow over in a couple days, and then I’ll get to spend a while quietly working on new projects!

While I’m doing that, here’s a bit about a neat book I found recently:

Physics for Entertainment:

Physics for Entertainment was written by Yakov Perelman in the 1920’s (in Russian) and updated periodically through the 1930’s. There are actually two parts to it, but Volume 1 is long out-of-print (though findable online — more on that later). The book I have is a 1975 translation of Volume 2. The book is a series of a few hundred examples, no more than one or two pages each, asking a question that illustrates some idea in basic physics.

It’s neat to see what has and hasn’t changed in the last century or so. Many of the examples he uses seem to be straight out of a modern high school physics textbook, while others were totally new to me. And some of the answers to the questions he poses seem obvious, but others made me stop and think. The diagram to the right shows a design for a fountain with no pump — it took me a while to get why it works. (For an easier-to-build variant, click here.) Later in the book, he explains the physics of that drinking bird toy.

It’s written in a fun, engaging, conversational style, as if he’s in the room chatting with you about these neat ideas.

There are a lot of diagrams:

And it’s hard not to like the guy:

“If you’ll bear with me for a moment, let’s analyze this fairy tale from a physics standpoint …” That’s a man after my own heart.

He also spends a lot of time discussing why various perpetual-motion machines won’t work. it’s interesting to see that there was as thriving a community of free energy people a century ago as there is now, many of their designs based on the same misapplications of physics.

Lastly, when he talks about space travel — from a pre-space-age perspective — he turns starry-eyed and poetic:

I alternate wildly between thinking that it’s totally crazy that we clawed our way up out of the atmosphere and walked on the moon, and thinking that it’s a shame that it turned out to be so boring. But I really desperately want to see more missions to places like the Jovian moons. If it turns out one of them is teeming with life, we’re gonna feel awfully silly about how long we spent shuffling around in the Martian dust. Also, Kepler is really exciting, putting us in a much better place to speculate about life in the galaxy.

You can get the printed Volume 2 on Amazon, while Volume 1 was supposedly unavailable for translation or reprint. However, I mentioned this book at one of the events recently, and reader Matthias Kübel emailed me to let me know Volume 1 is available free online! I’m looking forward to reading through it.

Head Protection for Motorists

Mikael — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:51:17 PDT

A while back we posted about an Australian 'motoring helmet' designed to protect motorists' heads in car accidents. It was designed in the late 1980's.

Then we recieved this tip yesterday. Another head protection device for motorists, this one developed at the University of Adelaide, in Australia. A serious product for the serious of protecting motorists from the dangers of driving. Despite airbags and seatbelts, motorists are victims of alarming head injury rates. Here's what the Centre for Automotive Safety Research [CASR] in Australia says:

The Centre has been evaluating the concept of a protective headband for car occupants. In about 44 percent of cases of occupant head injury, a protective headband, such as the one illustrated, would have provided some benefit. One estimate has put the potential benefit of such a device (in terms of reduced societal Harm) as high as $380 million, compared with $123 million for padding the upper interior of the car. This benefit derives from the fact that in a crash, the head strikes objects other than those that could be padded inside the car.

Wikipedia has some more:
CASR were investigating the benefits of padding the inside of a car, which is a legal requirement in some jurisdictions. They discovered that although the head may strike any of a number of places in a car, many of which would be difficult to pad, that about half of all serious head injuries occurred to the forehead, side of the head or behind the ears. From these findings CASR embarked upon a project to develop a headband which could protect these areas of the head in a car collision.

The BBC wrote about the new product here.

Would you wear one?

Any bicycle advocate worth their salt will dedicate the majority of their time to promoting cycling positively and highlighting the many benefits of cycling for the individual and for society.

Unfortunately, it proves necessary to spend a great deal of time debunking well-established myths about the 'dangers' of cycling. The health benefits of cycling - both for the individual and society - are 20 times greater than the relatively small risk of serious accident. This is where the focus should lie.

Increasing the number of cyclists in any urban environment fights obesity and a host of illnesses associated with our modern sedentary lifestyles. More citizens choosing the bicycle reduces injury rates. If you double the number of cyclists in a city, the risk of injury falls by one-third, due to the Safety in Numbers principle.

Futhermore, in Copenhagen we've calculated that:

For every kilometre cycled, society enjoys a net PROFIT of 1.22 kroner [$0.23].

On the other hand, for every kilometre travelled in a car, society suffers a net LOSS of 0.69 kroner [$0.13].

Politicians here, like anywhere else, love cost-benefit analysis. Cycling and investment in infrastructure is fantastically profitable for a society.

The Copenhagen calculations are based, among other factors, on reduced costs for wear and tear on the roads, the health benefits of cycling and the extended lives of healthier citizens.

We're not even talking about testosterone cycling, merely pedalling to work, the supermarket, the cinema, etc. When more people cycle, there are fewer sick days, fewer hospital admissions and the working population is generally more productive.

It is even more unfortunate that many of the people who are eager to keep the myths about cycling alive are cyclists. More often than not, cyclists who enjoy the adrenaline version of cycling and not the casual urban transport style on the rise in cities all over the world.

Imagine if the most vocal advocates of 'going for walks around town' were racewalkers and racewalking clubs.

Copenhagenize.com, in the interest of exploring how logic works - or rather doesn't - thinks that the focus on the mythical dangers of cycling is misplaced. In logical terms, proponents of bicycle helmets should extend their campaign to include helmets for pedestrians and motorists. Anything less than that is misleading, statistically incorrect and just plain ridiculous.

Promoting the positive aspects of cycling seems so blatantly obvious, but it is, sadly, an uphill battle and has been for the past few decades.

The time is ripe for Bicycle Culture 2.0. The more people who promote cycling as positive, the quicker we arrive.

Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

DIY Bicycle Saddle Bag

Matt — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:30:48 PDT

Reader and hack minded Karen wrote to us recently about solving that pesky problem of carrying necessities when you ride. She gained inspiration from Acorn Bags and with some materials that were laying around and some good old hand sewing, she came up with a dope hack. Description and pictures below. Thanks Karen!

I have been looking for a cool and practical way to put my wallet, cell phone, keys and essentials while riding. I found the Acorn Roll Bag and really like the look of it so I decided to make my own version of it. I butchered a couple of reusable shopping bags to make the body of the bag and most of the pockets.

I don’t have a sewing machine, so I hand-sewed everything together old-school style with a thread and needle. I found a zippered pouch that used to hold my Thermos and pinned that on too. What I think is the coolest part is that the bag itself actually opens up to form a giant pouch.

The whole thing is cinched together with a leather belt. I put leather toe straps through the loops in the bag (the loops used to be part of the handles). The toe straps will be what attach the bag to the saddle. I haven’t tested out the bag on an actual ride yet, but I’m pretty pleased with it.

Awesome job Karen, after you have done the road test write us back and let us know how it went. If you have a used a hack to carry your essentials, feel free to send it along.

DIY Bicycle Saddle Bag

Kinda related posts

Storage: Backpack/Pannier in One (1)
Overalls Repurposed for Bike Storage (2)
Finland Bike Hack: Bad to the Bone (0)
Two Go (1)
Pencil Bag Repurposed for Bicycle Handlebar Bag (3)

World's Longest Bicycle Commuter Tunnel Opens

Mikael — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:32:36 PDT

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The Basque city of San Sebastian inaugurated the world's longest bicycle commuter tunnel yesterday [07 August 2009] in a former railway tunnel on the Bilbao-San Sebastian route.

The Mayor of San Sebastian, Odon Elorza, and the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Basque Government, Ernesto Gasco opened the tunnel to the delight of the many cyclists in the city. The tunnel is aimed primarily at bicycle commuters but recreational cyclists are expected to use it on the weekends as well.

Elorza expressed satisfaction at the launching of this new infrastructure that improves the network of bicycle lanes in San Sebastian and is "a symbol of progress, sustainability and personal health".

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The bicycle tunnel itself is 850 metres long and a part of a 2 kilometre section of former railway that connects two neighbourhoods in the city and is part of the ongoing commitment of the city to encourage people to choose the bicycle as transport. The project cost €2.6 million [$3.7 million] and it is hoped that it will boost the further development of dedicated bicycle infrastructure in the Guipuzcoa Province.

San Sebastian is the second-largest city in the Basque region with roughly 180,000 people and 405,000 in the metro area.

Amazing that a city of this size is willing to invest in such remarkable bicycle projects when larger cities elsewhere have trouble painting bicycle lanes. Spain has hardly enjoyed status as a bicycle-friendly country in the past. It's a car-centric nation and Spaniards only ride 27 km a year per capita, compared with roughly 1000 km in Denmark and the Netherlands. It looks like things are changing for the better. Here's a list of countries will how many kilometres they ride.

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

The tunnel features 29 security cameras, a public adress system and closed circuit camera link for the Municipal Guard. It will be closed at night between 23:00 and 07:00.

San Sebastian Bicycle Tunnel - Photo: Michelena at Diario Vasco

You can see a TV reportage about the new tunnel over at Diario Vasco. It's in Spanish but there is some great footage of the tunnel as well as the many cyclists in San Sebastian.

San Sebastian is just one of scores of cities in Europe who are working hard to improve the conditions for their cycling citizens but one that is often overlooked in a global perspective, much like cities like Toulouse.

The city is no stranger to Cycle Chic, either:

Thanks to Gorka for the heads up! He writes:
I wanted to share with you the news of the inauguration of this tunnel in San Sebastian, Basque country. It is 2 km long and it connects two neighborhoods of the city. Here in the Basque country, we are trying to be the Copenhagen of the Iberian Peninsula!!

You're well on your way, Gorka. Nice one.

This isn't the first time we've posted about bicycle tunnels. There are various tunnels on the drawing board around the world. This is, however, the first large one that is completed.

Here's a post about tunnel proposals in Copenhagen and Qatar.
Here's one about a tunnel in Norway.
Addendum: Paddy just told us about plans for a 1700 metre long tunnel in Bath, UK.

Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

ContactPoint database could put 11 million children at risk

andrew — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:57:11 PDT

Heidi Blake writes in The Daily Telegraph:

Every child in England could be at risk because of security failings in the Government’s controversial children’s database, experts have claimed.

ContactPoint is designed to help protect England’s 11 million children by giving officials a single register of their names, ages and addresses as well as details of their schools, parents and GPs.

But the database is riddled with security failings so serious that “even a child” could steal sensitive information from it, according to Overtis Systems, the data safety specialists.

The £224m system has already been delayed three times over security fears, but 800 pilot workers are currently using it and 390,000 teachers, social workers and other professionals will have access by the end of the year.

Ongoing faults mean the system is vulnerable to viruses and spyware, and users could have their sessions “hijacked” while away from their computers, Overtis Systems said.

The size of the database makes it difficult to monitor suspicious activity and it remains so easy to copy the data that a child would be capable of doing it, the data security specialists also claimed.

Nine sacked over National Identity Scheme breaches

andrew — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:02:41 PDT

Mark Ballard writes in Computer Weekly:

Nine staff have been sacked from their local authority jobs for snooping on personal records of celebrities and personal acquaintances held on the core database of the government’s National Identity Scheme.

They are among 34 council workers who illegally accessed the Customer Information System (CIS) database, which holds the biographical data of the population that will underpin the government’s multi-billion-pound ID card programme.

The disclosures, obtained by Computer Weekly using the Freedom of Information Act, will add to calls for the government to come clean over the security of the National Identity Scheme.

The CIS database, run by the Department for Work and Pensions, stores up to 9,800 items of information on 92 million people, including sensitive data, such as ethnicity, relationship history, whether someone is being investigated for fraud and whether they have special needs.

Making a tilt-shift lens

Caleb Kraft — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:48:00 PDT

[Bhautik] is on version 2 of his tilt-shift lens, and wrote in to share what he has learned. Some aspects of the design on version 1 made it a bit quirky to use. You had to hold the lens in place, manually adjusting the focus. This meant that no two shots were the same. Since [Bhautik] wanted to do time lapse with it, he needed to re design it. He kept it simple and cheap, around $22 total. Version two takes a lot longer to setup for the shot, but the result is reproducible. This means he can make his tilt-shift time lapse videos.

WP Engineer: WordPress 2.8 Single Post Navigation Widget

Michael — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:38:57 PDT

Since WordPress 2.8, there is a new Widget API. In our post Build A WordPress 2.8 Widget With The New Widget API, I have used a simple example to describe how to build a Widget. This time Heiko and I've created something more complex.

It is a Post Navigation Widget, which lists in the single post view (single.php) a specific number of posts which were published before this post and a certain number of posts which were published after this post. I think this is a nice way to show older posts in the sidebar. Here's a screenshot, left of the backend, right of the sidebar:

I created a query to check if the class WP_Widget even exists, so the user won't get any error messages in WordPress versions prior to 2.8.

<?php
if (class_exists('WP_Widget')) {
    class WPE_Widget_Post_Navigation extends WP_Widget {
 
        function WPE_Widget_Post_Navigation() {
            $widget_ops = array('classname' => 'wpe_widget_post_navi', 'description' => __( "Some posts before and after the current post") );
            $this->WP_Widget('wpe-post-navi', __('WPE Single Post Navigation'), $widget_ops);
        }
 
        function widget($args, $instance) {
            if(is_single()) {
                global $post, $wpdb;
                extract($args);
 
                if ( !$number = (int) $instance['number'] )
                    $number = 5;
                elseif( $number < 1 )
                    $number = 1;
                elseif( $number > 10 )
                    $number = 10;
 
                $title_before 		= apply_filters('widget_title', empty($instance['title_before']) ? 'Posts before' : $instance['title_before']);
                $title_after	 	= apply_filters('widget_title', empty($instance['title_after']) ? 'Posts after' : $instance['title_after']);
                $before_widget_2	= preg_replace("/(wpe\-post\-navi-\d+)/", "$1-1", $before_widget);
 
                $querystr = "
                    SELECT *
                    FROM $wpdb->posts wposts
                    WHERE wposts.ID != $post->ID
                    AND wposts.post_type = 'post'
                    AND wposts.post_status = 'publish'
                    AND wposts.post_date %s '$post->post_date'
                    ORDER BY wposts.post_date %s
                    LIMIT $number
                 ";
 
                $leading_posts = $wpdb->get_results(sprintf($querystr, '<', 'DESC'), OBJECT);
                $trailing_posts = $wpdb->get_results(sprintf($querystr, '>', 'ASC'), OBJECT);
 
                if ($trailing_posts && count($trailing_posts)) {
                    echo $before_widget_2 . $before_title . $title_before . $after_title . "<ul>";
                    $trailing_posts = array_reverse($trailing_posts);
                    foreach ($trailing_posts as $post) {
                        setup_postdata($post);
                        ?> <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(get_the_title() ? get_the_title() : get_the_ID()); ?>"><?php if ( get_the_title() ) the_title(); else the_ID(); ?> </a></li><?php
                    }
                    echo "</ul>" . $after_widget;
                }
 
                if ($leading_posts && count($leading_posts)) {
                    echo $before_widget . $before_title . $title_after . $after_title . "<ul>";
                    foreach ($leading_posts as $post) {
                        setup_postdata($post);
                        ?> <li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(get_the_title() ? get_the_title() : get_the_ID()); ?>"><?php if ( get_the_title() ) the_title(); else the_ID(); ?> </a></li><?php
                    }
                    echo "</ul>" . $after_widget;
                }
                wp_reset_query();
            }
        }
 
        function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
            $instance = $old_instance;
            $instance['title_before'] = strip_tags($new_instance['title_before']);
            $instance['number'] = (int) $new_instance['number'];
            $instance['title_after'] = strip_tags($new_instance['title_after']);
 
            return $instance;
        }
        function form( $instance ) {
            $title_before = ($instance['title_before'] == '') ? 'Posts before' : esc_attr($instance['title_before']);
            $title_after = ($instance['title_after'] == '') ? 'Posts after' : esc_attr($instance['title_after']);
            if ( !$number = (int) $instance['number'] )
                $number = 5;
            elseif ( $number < 1 )
                $number = 1;
            elseif ( $number > 10 )
                $number = 10;
    ?>
            <p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title_before'); ?>">Title before:</label>
            <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title_before'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title_before'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $title_before; ?>" /></p>
            <p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title_after'); ?>">Title after:</label>
            <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title_after'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title_after'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $title_after; ?>" /></p>
            <p><label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('number'); ?>">Number of posts to show before and after current post:</label>
            <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('number'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('number'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $number; ?>" size="3" /><br />
            <small>(at most 10)</small></p>
    <?php
        }
    }
    register_widget('WPE_Widget_Post_Navigation');
}
?>

Most of this should be self-explanatory. Now to the function widget () , which does the actual work. Here we had to do a little trick, because the widget actually creates 2 widgets, and they would get the same ID. That wouldn't be valid, so the code adds a -1 to one of the widget elements:

$before_widget_2 = preg_replace("/(wpe\-post\-navi-\d+)/", "$1-1", $before_widget);

2 queries are getting executed. One for the posts before this post and one for the posts after this post. if posts are available they will show up on the sidebar.

Download Widget.
Then unpack and copy the code into functions.php. Please note, the widget is for WordPress 2.8.

A cycling lesson with Victoria Pendleton

John Crace — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:26:31 PDT

British successes in the Olympics and Tour de France means that cycling has never had a higher profile. But how easy is it to go from just commuting to powering round a proper track?

A couple of cans of Diet Coke and a tuna sandwich probably isn't the ideal preparation for a track session with Victoria Pendleton. But then it's hard to know what would be.

Ever since the British team virtually swept the board at last year's Olympic games, cycling has become an increasingly mainstream sport, with Pendleton, seven world titles and an Olympic gold medal to her name, very much its poster girl. Velodromes experienced a huge post-Olympics surge in bookings. And with Britain having just experienced its best year ever in the Tour de France – Bradley Wiggins came fourth overall and Mark Cavendish gloriously won six stages – it seems we're on a roll.

Mass-participation events, such as the forthcoming Skyride series which will close the centres of Manchester, Glasgow, Leicester and London for cyclists, are springing up everywhere and for most people those, along with a gentle commute to work or the occasional weekend outing, are as much two-wheel action as they want.

But what if you want something more? The chance to go flat-out on a track and get seriously fit into the bargain. There are any number of outdoor tracks with relatively gentle banks on the bends, but the Manchester indoor velodrome is state of the art. The 250m track was relaid in 2007 and hosted the world championships in 2008; its 42-degree raking curves are home to 15 world records. And anyone can come in off the street and have a go. Even me, and Pendleton is here to show me how.

Or at least she's meant to be. She ties back her hair, slips on her gloves and helmet, pulls down her shades and is off, leaving me at the side of the track, trying to work out how to get my shoes attached to the pedals. Thanks for nothing, Vicky. I suppose I ought to be flattered she feels she needs a head start.

The bike isn't that familiar either. It's a public-hire track bike and another Olympic gold medallist, Jamie Staff, laughs when he sees it. "That's a crock of shit," he says. "It's the Ford Fiesta of bikes." It may be to him, but it's a Porsche to me. It weighs next to nothing, has a fixed single gear and no brakes.

I start off slowly, easing my way along the concrete inner perimeter to get up to speed. Pendleton gets on to my shoulder. "OK," she says. "Move up on to the wood and stick to the black line nearest the bottom. Keep your eyes focused on where you're going, ride hard through the bends, stay relaxed and, whatever you do, don't stop pedalling. Exciting, isn't it?"

Yes. But it's also a bit scary. It feels unnatural to be accelerating into such a steeply angled curve. I back off and stop pedalling for a second. Big mistake. The back wheel skids; not pedalling is the same as heavy braking on a road bike. The only way to get off one of these things safely is to pedal slower and slower until the bike rolls to a halt.

I get lucky and stay on. Pendleton grins. "Let's increase the revs and go higher on the track," she says. I can't really say no, so I tag on to her back tyre. Within a few laps my fear has gone. She's right. This is seriously exciting. As my confidence in both the bike and track grows, we begin to crank up the speed and for the next 10 minutes or so it feels as if I'm flying as we race into the middle of the banking around the bends before coming back down along the straight.

"How was it?" Pendleton says after we come to a stop. Where to start? I'm not that out of breath, but my thighs are burning and I'm not sure I could have gone that much faster. She smiles. "It was a nice, gentle warm-up. We were doing about 22-25mph." And what's your top speed? "About 45mph."

It doesn't seem possible. She's barely 5ft 5in and her bike is so small it looks like a kiddy bike. Where does she get her power? "I'm not sure," she says "I don't have a traditional sprinter's build. But I do have good aerodynamics, a lot of fast-twitch fibres and dense muscle [which are best for explosive events such as sprints]."

Like most top athletes, Pendleton will start talking about herself as a high-performance machine given half a chance. But a large part of her success is undoubtedly down to her attitude. She's resisted all efforts by coaches to get her hair cut and make herself less feminine – apparently a prerequisite for most women athletes who want to be taken seriously. "I've never felt limited," she says, "and I hate people telling me what to do."

She also gives the impression that it's often not a lot of fun being Pendleton. You can see why. A large part of the British cycling team's success comes from its lack of sentiment. Past performances guarantee you nothing; if your times aren't good enough, you're out. So the training – which includes hours in the gym each week building leg and upper-body strength – is brutal and competitive.

"There are times when I hate cycling," she says. "Times when I don't want to even look at a bike. But all jobs are like that, aren't they?" She admits to having felt demotivated after the Olympics, a sense of "what do I do now?", but she's back on track again. In all senses. "Who wouldn't want to compete in their home Olympics?"

And will she carry on cycling when she finally retires? "Oh, yes," she says. "I look forward to pootling about on the road, enjoying the scenery without worrying about a training objective. And it's a lot less boring than running."

I, though, have some unfinished business. Jamie Staff's world record for a single lap of the track from a standing start clocks in at 17 seconds (women don't do single-lap races, or naturally I'd be aiming for Pendleton's best). My coach – well, Pendleton's coach – steadies the bike and counts me down. I'm out of the saddle, driving for the first corner keeping as low on the banking as possible. All fear has gone. It's just me against Jamie. I come out of the corner and settle down low over the handlebars. I'm going flat out as I hit the final bend, my thighs are burning, I'm out of oxygen and desperately trying to maintain my speed along the last straight. Twenty-five seconds. Just eight seconds off the record. If only I had a decent bike.

new.britishcycling.org.uk

The dos and don'ts of track cycling, by Matt Seaton

• Do keep pedalling: track bikes are "fixed-wheel", which means you can't freewheel. As long as the wheels are turning, the pedals must turn too, and if you try to stop suddenly, the bike will try to buck you off or you may hurt your knees.
• Don't worry about not having any brakes. Just slow down gradually, until you come to a virtual stop, then "unclip" from the pedals and hop off.
• Do wear Lycra. Baggy shorts are the ultimate style sin for a trackie.
• Don't try riding up the banking until you are going fast enough for the centrifugal force to hold you there: a 250m Olympic
velodrome has steeply raked curves and you will simply slide off if you don't have enough momentum.
• Do practise your "track stands": this is the old fashioned skill of coming to a complete halt and balancing stationary to psych out your opponent. It's pointless, but looks cool.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Kickstand Traditions

(author unknown) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:22:58 PDT

Yehuda puts his foot down about the ways things are and will be.

The prophecy of 1994

andrew — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:14:02 PDT

Ally Fogg, writing on the Guardian’s Comment is Free web site, describes the function creep in the application of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and predicts similar things would happen with ID cards and data-sharing:

Fifteen years on, there is little pleasure to be gained from saying “we told you so”. But the manner in which a law designed to prevent the wholesale mayhem of Castlemorton can now be used to foreclose a birthday party should serve as a stark warning to those currently considering a raft of other illiberal legislation, from the coroners and justice bill to the various ID card proposals. Those who deride the contributors to liberty central when they warn about the incessant creep of police powers, or who scoff at “slippery slope” arguments around civil liberties, should bear in mind that we stood at the top of one of those slopes only 15 short years ago, and we have slid a long way down it since.

When legislation gives excessive powers to the state, those powers will eventually be used. When hard-won liberties are stripped away with a stroke of the monarch’s pen, they may never return.

Threesome

(author unknown) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:00:00 PDT

Holy Shmoly!: Why you should limit login attempts

Donncha — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:03:18 PDT

Some idiot at 213.155.4.184 hit all my websites over the last few days trying to login to my blogs. He fired off hundreds of automated requests probing and searching and testing my admin login. Each request had a different password. I use difficult to guess passwords but seeing the attempts was disconcerting.

I went searching and found the Limit Login Attempts plugin. After installing, a new page appears under Settings with a wealth of options:

I’m glad I did install it, it caught the same guy when he hit this blog a few hours later! You should probably install it too.

PS. Matt asked me to explain how I recorded those requests. There is a WordPress plugin that sends an email when a POST request is made but I threw this code into a file and load it with the “auto_prepend_file” directive in my php.ini (saves adding it to every installation of WordPress on my server)

if ( ( isset( $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA ) || !empty( $_POST ) ) && $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ] != '/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron' && $_SERVER[ 'SCRIPT_NAME' ] != '/wp-comments-post.php' && substr( $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ], -10 ) != '/trackback' && substr( $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ], -11 ) != '/trackback/' ) { mail( "MYEMAIL@gmail.com", $_SERVER[ 'HTTP_HOST' ] . " POST request: " . $_SERVER[ 'REMOTE_ADDR' ], "URL: {$_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ]}\nPOST: " . print_r( $_POST, 1 ) . "\nCOOKIES: " . print_r( $_COOKIE, 1 ) . "\nHTTP_RAW_POST_DATA: $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA" ); }

Related Posts

Why you should limit login attempts

Donncha — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:03:18 PDT

I went searching and found the Limit Login Attempts plugin. After installing, a new page appears under Settings with a wealth of options:

I’m glad I did install it, it caught the same guy when he hit this blog a few hours later! You should probably install it too.

if ( ( isset( $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA ) || !empty( $_POST ) ) && $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ] != '/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron' && $_SERVER[ 'SCRIPT_NAME' ] != '/wp-comments-post.php' && substr( $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ], -10 ) != '/trackback' && substr( $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ], -11 ) != '/trackback/' ) { mail( "MYEMAIL@gmail.com", $_SERVER[ 'HTTP_HOST' ] . " POST request: " . $_SERVER[ 'REMOTE_ADDR' ], "URL: {$_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_URI' ]}\nPOST: " . print_r( $_POST, 1 ) . "\nCOOKIES: " . print_r( $_COOKIE, 1 ) . "\nHTTP_RAW_POST_DATA: $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA" ); }

Related Posts

Send Transport for London to the Hague

Andrea — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:44:59 PDT

… and not to learn from the Dutch how to provide a safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists. No. We need to send TfL to the International Criminal Court to be tried for Crimes against Humanity.

Lorry drivers have been killing Londoners riding bicycles with chilling regularity, about one a month. Lorries have blind spots, we are told in this grotesque video:

Now in most civilised nations, blind people are not allowed to drive; in most civilised nations if a train, a plane, a ship or indeed a donkey has a design fault that caused the regular killing of innocent people, it would not be allowed to operate.

But this City is run by people with no decency nor civility. They don’t see cycling as an activity that everyone can partake. They talk of the ‘cycling community’, a second-class group of people, dressed in stupid colours with stupid hats, who need to watch out for the blind killers.

If the lorry drivers are blind they shouldn’t be on the road!
If drivers turn left without looking for cyclists or not giving priority to pedestrians, they should be fined thousands of pounds until they get the message.

Instead TfL is spending thousands of pounds of our money to produce these obscene pieces of propaganda telling us “Do you see these green cycle lane we have painted? They are a death trap because blind people ignore them and we are not doing anything to stop them.” Absolutely obscene.

Brussels casts doubt on £1.2bn border controls

andrew — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:33:34 PDT

Jamie Doward writes in The Observer:

A £1.2bn scheme to secure the UK’s borders risks breaching European law because it restricts the right to free movement, say Commission officials.

Their verdict has thrown the future of the e-Borders scheme into question and prompted accusations that ministers are ignoring legal advice.

The flagship government project, which will collect the electronic records of everyone who enters and leaves the UK, aims to tackle terrorism, crime and illegal immigration. Passengers will have to supply detailed personal information with their travel plans to their carrier.

A letter from Ernesto Bianchi, acting head of the General Justice, Freedom and Security Directorate, raises doubts about the legality of asking passengers for anything other than their passport.

Beware Labour’s quest for a database state

andrew — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:30:50 PDT

Philip Johnston writes in the Daily Telegraph:

Under Labour, a programme, known as Transformational Government, was established a few years ago to develop the database society and to obtain what the policy papers call “a single source of truth” about the citizen, based on their behaviour, experiences, beliefs, needs and rights. Why should the state want to have “a single source of truth” about us?

In a lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies, in London this Wednesday, Damian Green, the Tory frontbencher, will tackle this question head on; and it is heartening to see that the Tories, in opposition at least, have understood the dangers here. Government, says Mr Green, can do harm even when it is trying to do good, though I am by no means convinced that it really is seeking “to do good”. All states collect information on their citizens. However, the amount they are able to collect depends upon the technology, which is clearly available nowadays, and the constraints placed upon its capture by the legislature. Such constraints are remarkably few in the UK compared to other democracies. How have we gone so quickly from being the country you would most expect to resist these tendencies to the one that adopted them so meekly?

Mr Green has identified 28 state databases on which personal information is kept, from the obviously necessary, such as the PAYE collection system, to some that are impossible to justify, like ContactPoint, which will hold the details of everyone under the age of 18 in England. The Conservatives have promised to scrap or modify many of these if they win power; but they might find in office that the temptation to hang on to the data is too tempting.

What is needed is a complete reversal of the assumption that our personal data is the state’s to possess. Why should it? This is the question that should be answered by the “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” brigade. It is not as if letting the Government handle all of this information is secure, cheap or efficient. More importantly, it is inimical to any notion of individual freedom that a central bureaucracy should possess so much personal information about us; and, no, giving private data to the state, which has the power to misuse it to our considerable disadvantage, is not the same as having a Tesco Clubcard.

Justin Tadlock: Using custom taxonomies to create a movie database

Justin Tadlock — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:10:29 PDT

Pop Critics Movie Database

Lately, I’ve been writing a lot about how to create custom taxonomies in WordPress. I still get questions every day about practical applications with them.

Usually, I’m asked, “I understand the definition of taxonomy, but what do I do with them?” This is what I will attempt to answer in this post.

At the end of last week, I managed to talk my cousin into helping me set up a movie database. I thought this would be a great testing ground for custom taxonomies and allow me to present an example of how they can be used.

Go ahead and take a spin around the database and see what we’ve put together. I think it’s a neat concept.

You should make note that some of the things explained in this tutorial assume that you’re running WordPress 2.8+.

If something in the design is a bit wonky, pay it no attention. I just quickly merged it with the main site design and it could use some work.

The custom taxonomies

I created six new taxonomies for my WordPress install: actor, director, genre, producer, studio, and writer. These taxonomies allow readers to find movies based on certain criteria. For example, you can view movies that Tom Hanks has starred in.

The idea here is to give readers the ability to navigate around your site. You want organized content. You want content that’s linked together in meaningful ways. Custom taxonomies allow us to group our content in ways that simple categories and tags can’t.

Creating the custom taxonomies

I recently covered how you can easily create taxonomies in WordPress 2.8. To understand the mechanics behind creating and using them, read that post.

To do this, I added this code to my theme’s functions.php file:

<?php 

add_action( 'init', 'create_pc_db_taxonomies', 0 );

function create_pc_db_taxonomies() {
	register_taxonomy( 'actor', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Actors', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'actor', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'actors' ) ) );
	register_taxonomy( 'director', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Directors', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'director', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'directors' ) ) );
	register_taxonomy( 'genre', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Genres', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'genre', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'genres' ) ) );
	register_taxonomy( 'producer', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Producers', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'producer', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'producers' ) ) );
	register_taxonomy( 'studio', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Studios', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'studio', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'studios' ) ) );
	register_taxonomy( 'writer', 'post', array( 'hierarchical' => false, 'label' => __('Writers', 'series'), 'query_var' => 'writer', 'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'writers' ) ) );
}

?>

Creating term clouds with custom taxonomies

If you take a look around the movie database, you’ll notice I’ve made ample use of term (tag) clouds. Each represents a different taxonomy and will help you find movies in different ways.

A term cloud of movie genres

Built into version 0.6 of the Hybrid theme (will be released after WordPress 2.8) is a widget called Tags. Traditionally, this widget would allow you to show a tag cloud. In the new version, there’s a select box to choose a taxonomy, which allows us to create a term cloud based on any custom taxonomy. Pretty cool, right?

If you’re not fortunate enough to be using the Hybrid theme, you can hardcode a term cloud like so:

<?php wp_tag_cloud( array( 'taxonomy' => 'taxonomy_name' ) ); ?>

Displaying custom taxonomies in a post

Also covered in my previous tutorial was how to list taxonomy terms for a post. Simply replacing taxonomy_name in the below code with the unique name of your taxonomy will handle that.

<?php echo get_the_term_list( $post->ID, 'taxonomy_name', 'Taxonomy Label: ', ', ', '' ); ?>?

Here’s a look at the movie page (single post view) of Turner & Hooch:

Custom taxonomies on a single-post view

Notice how each taxonomy’s terms are listed. It gives you a view of the actors, genres, directors, producers, studios, and writers for the individual movie.

Displaying taxonomy terms in a page

When dealing with the vast amount of movies available, there’s no good way to show off everything in a sidebar and other small areas. I needed a way to show off each taxonomy on a separate page. So, I created six page templates to handle this:

In each template, I used the wp_tag_cloud() function (shown above) to show off a particular taxonomy. If you’re unfamiliar with creating page templates, read this tutorial on how to create your own.

Taxonomy term templates

Taxonomy terms get their own templates just like tags, categories, and other archives. In keeping with the Tom Hanks scenario, we’ll take a look at the Tom Hanks archive.

There are several things we have to do to make this happen. First, one useful bit of code I appended to my theme’s functions.php file allows me to add any XHTML to my term descriptions:

remove_filter( 'pre_term_description', 'wp_filter_kses' );

Once that was done, I found Tom Hanks under my Actors taxonomy in my WordPress admin (a sub-menu of Posts). I then added an image and short description of the actor. This shows up at the top of the Tom Hanks archive:

View of the Tom Hanks actor archive

Not all themes’ archives are equipped to handle this. Instead of hacking up your theme’s archive.php template, copy and rename it to taxonomy.php. You’ll want to add these two code snippets to this file, replacing other code that might be in the way. Theme authors: You should take note of this.

To get the proper name of the taxonomy term (usually the archive page title), use this code:

<?php $term = get_term_by( 'slug', get_query_var( 'term' ), get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ) ); $term->name; ?>

To show the taxonomy term description, use this code:

<?php echo term_description( '', get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ) ); ?>

Try creating custom taxonomies for yourself

I hope this helps explain how taxonomies can be used on a site. I wanted to give everyone a real-world example to better understand the concept.

I didn’t go into complete detail on each bit of code because the post was getting much too long. In order to better understand how the code works, read over my tutorial on creating custom taxomies. There’s a lot of great information in that post.

As always, feel free to ask questions and discuss. I’ll be happy to help out. Heck, go rate a few movies on the movie database. It could be fun!

10 Things You can Do with WordPress Besides Blogging

Dan Philibin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:00:14 PDT

Today you’re going to learn 10 things you can do with WordPress besides blogging, and whether you’re a WordPress newbie or longtime veteran - I guarantee that you will learn something after reading this post!

While WordPress is the world’s most popular self-hosted blogging solution, it’s also an open source CMS (Content Management Solution). WordPress is known for it’s blogging capabilities, but being a CMS as well it can do nearly anything that can be done within a web site. Like a Forum, photo gallery, web directory, classifieds site, jobs board, news site, and more! The advantage of doing these kinds of things within WordPress are that you can use it for either blogging or other features in as well!

Imagine being able to create a web directory, but use WP RSS, comments, pingback, plugin, and theme features? Consider the ability to add a blog within a subsection of a web site without having to install a separate instance of WordPress there (because WP runs your entire site!).

There are probably hundreds (if not thousands) of things you can do with WordPress that aren’t blogging, but here are the top 10 ones I could think of to get the gears turning inside your head!

1. Create a Static Web Site

I’m amazed sometimes when people don’t understand why I would want to create a static web site using WordPress. There are 3 reasons this is the best solution I can think of:

Sheer speed of Setup
Plugins and Themes
Future Growth

I can setup an entire WordPress web site including database and initial setup options in about 10 minutes. I can customize it very quickly with a theme. I can add a very detailed contact form in about 5 minutes with a simple plugin. With another plugin I can generate an XML sitemap to register with the 3 major search engines. To do the same with static HTML (even Dreamweaver) would take soooo much longer, and would require extra scripts for a contact form and XML sitemap.

In addition if I created a 10 page static web site for a client using WordPress, I could create a login account for them and they could update their own web site (or add pages) in the future without needing my assistance. You certainly can’t do that with a static web site!

If you create a static web site in the future using WordPress - here’s what you need to know:

As soon as you setup the site, change permalink structure by going to settings -> permalink in your dashboard. Change the default date based permalink to /%postname%/ like this:

Next, since you’re building a static site you need to assign a static home page. In settings -> reading in your dashboard assign a static page to display for the home page. If you’re going to use the blogging function as well, you can assign it to a sub-page of your blog here as well:

Last, turn off comments. You can turn these back on for any invidual pages (or posts if you use the blogging feature later). Go to settings -> Discussion to turn comments off by default:

2. Build a Directory

Web Directories are old school Internet! A Directory is just a listing of sites, categorized in some way. There are blog directories, business directories, web design directories - just about any niche you can think of is available. To this day people still like directories because unlike a search engine (with millions of results), a good directory usually has great sites categorized by exactly the topic you’re looking for. From a web site owner point of view, directories are usually viewed as a great way to build links, traffic, and authority for your site.

Most web directories are built on some custom PHP script developed specifically for that purpose. Many directories I’ve seen had a script running the main web site, and then WordPress installed in a sub-folder running a blog. You don’t need to do that, because you can actually easlily build your own directory right in WordPress.

You could of course just build a static site, and then create your own pages building a directory by hand. But that would be a lot of work! Why not use a free plugin to automate the process a bit.

Build a Link Directory:

With Sean Blueston’s WP Link Directory Plugin you can build little directory of links with features like categories, search, reciprocal link detection, and the ability to allow paid premium links for a fee via paypal.

Category pages contain pagerank info, link, and description:

If you’re looking for something a bit more complex (that you could scale a bit), you need to check out Open Directory Links. You could definitely build your own open directory in WordPress with this:

It’s got great style and layout and even RSS feeds available at the category levels. It even has pagerank, refer to a friend, and add bookmark for each link:

Maybe you have more of a business site and a “business directory” for your niche would add great value for your client. The difference between a business and link directory is that a business directory has name, link, and description attributes, but also the ability to support phone number and physical address as well:

An advanced type of business directory might be one where you have an event that people have to register for, and you want to feature all the companies they work for online. In that case the Social Events and Registration Directory Plugin is exactly what you’re looking for. People can register for an event, get a confirmation email, and it can even support social networking links, RSS feed links, and custom fields.

3. Start a Classifieds Site

Maybe you’d like to start a classifieds site for your group, organization, commnity, or business. The coder of the open directory links plugin also makes a WP Classifieds WordPress Plugin!

It’s fully featured with post dates and view counts, and a fully featured submit form. Users can add contact information an image, and they have an wysiwig editor for ads! Users don’t have to create an account at all to submit ads, spam is controlled by captcha, and all category pages gave RSS links available for visitors.

You can also add classified to a WordPress site with Another WordPress Classifieds Plugin. It has nice layout, but support the ability to charge for listings.

Browsing ads is a breeze with the very flexible layout which shows image, location, date posted, and views. It’s very easy to change categories with the dropdown at the top of each page and the ability to change how many ads are listed per page:

4. Create an Article Repository

Maybe you’ve seen all those great article repositories online and thought it would be a great idea for a site of your own! It’s a great way to get free content and traffic, and there are lots of scripts and programs out there that make setting one up a breeze! With these plugins you can create your own article directory right in WordPress, and use all the normal WP features and functions available!

Using the Article Directory Plugin you can easily setup an aricle repository in your WordPress powered site. It allows you to accept articles submissions, and you can even get targeted content from the article dragon network (you have total control to accept or reject articles). You can quickly build an article repository with this plugin.

5. Make an Image Gallery

Are you a photographer? Are you the “tech guy” of your family tree? Are you in charge of the web site for a local group or organization? Having a baby or wedding? I can’t believe the amount of times I got an email with a link to somebody’s Yahoo account for pictures to a corporate event or small business picnic. I can’t count the number of photographers paying big amounts for online photo managers when there are free tools that would allow them to manage photos within their own web site. There are incredible free plugins available for WordPress for showcasing and displaying images.

NextGen Gallery is the end-all be-all of plugins for photo management in WordPress.

Some of it’s abilites are random pics in the sidebar:

It has the ability to manage hundreds and thousands of pictures in sortable and categorizable galleries. You can upload an entire zip file with pictures for inclusion, and it boasts a fully integrated flash slideshow.

You have complete control of home many galleries are displayed per page, you can have an index page listing all galleries, and you control how the galleries are shown, from the size of the images to the attributes beneath them (title, description, link, etc.).

Another plugin worth mentioning is the Page Flip Image Gallery. If all you need to do for yourself or your client is display some sample work, show a portfolio, or just a simple image gallery - this is awesome! It features full screen mode, and you can even use either JPG files or SWF flash files for gallery display! It has batch upload, upload from URL, and zip file upload.

If you just need something basic and simple, then the Lazyest Gallery Plugin might be just the right one for you! It offers automatic thumbnail and slide creation, and you can add comments on images and folders. It has widgets for random pic and folder list, and you can add captions to all folders and images:

If you’re really lazy, maybe all you want to do is just include your already existing photo galleries. If that’s the case you might want to check out the plethora of Picasa Plugins or Flickr Plugins for WordPress.

6. Build a Review Site

Another great idea is to build a “Review Site” in WordPress. Let’s face it, the bulk of the blogs online are talking about something and giving an opinion (review). There are many sites that review products and services, and there are countless ways of displaying them. I had said that all 10 of my ideas in this article would be alternatives to blogging, but reviews can be done in pages, but also in running blog fashion with individual posts. It just depends on how you decide to setup your site and which plugins you decide to utilize.

One way to do this is with the Review Box plugin. By using a simple shortcode, you can add a “review box” to any page or post in which you can summarize up pros, cons, and then set a percentage rating:

There are also tons of premium themes and plugins for sale so you can create a “review site” in WordPress, but if you want to do it on the cheap, in my opinion the best plugin for that is GD Star Rating.

If you want users to be able to rate or review pages or posts, one of the best plugins for that is WP Post Ratings by Lester Chan. It allows live ratings by users, and shows vote counts, and average rating:

7. Start a Discussion Forum

A discussion forum is probably one of the greatest sources of content you could ever ask for! It’s the epitomy of give and take online, usually people asking for help, and experts answering questions to give their expertise (and signature links) greater exposure.

There are countless hacks and plugins for integrating a “stand-alone” forum or bulletin boards into WordPress, but most people I’ve talked to don’t know that you can can actually create an entire forum inside WordPress itself!

Simple:Press Forum allows you to create an entire (and fully featured) threaded discussion forum within WordPress itself. It has as many (if not more) features than most standalone forums I’ve used. It has search, user registration, rss feeds, pagination, breadcrumbs, full stats, fine grained user control. I’ve used this plugin several times, and I haven’t setup a standalone forum script since.

Another plugin available to create a fully-fledged forum in WordPress is WordPress Forum. It’s last update is Sept 2008, but it does appear to work with WordPress versions 2.02 or higher.

8. Aggregation

I hope I don’t catch a lot of flak for this one, because WordPress aggregation is probably the single most abused feature available. It’s true, there are so many autoblogging plugins available it’s not funny - plugins that sploggers and spammers use to create sites with automatic content hoping to get indexed in search engines and make money for free on autopilot.

Aggregation can be used for good, and I don’t see that many web sites using it that way anymore. RSS feeds are available for readers to subscribe to your content. They are also available to keep track of the most recent updates, and you can aggregate the titles, links, and short excerpts of these updates on your web site for your readers (or even just for you). In addition, there are RSS feed available for things besides blogs you may not have even thought about, AND there are some plugins that provide aggregation without RSS at all - maybe they use an API!

Let me give you some examples….

Are you a twitter-holic? You could use a plugin like Tweet Blender to aggregate tweets from multiple users and / or specific hashtags:

Next I’ll show you some great uses of RSS feeds (first) and then directly after I’ll show you how to “aggregate” these feeds into WordPress using a plugin…

Nearly every category on Craigslist has an RSS feed you can use. Maybe you belong to an organization, group, or even a band that could benefit from including such a feed on your web site. A real estate site could list the latest Craigslist rental listings, a musician site could list the latest gear for sale, etc.

You could do the same thing with eBay. Maybe your client has a business that lists things on eBay. Do an advanced search and the bottom of that page has an RSS feed you can use. Maybe you have a sewing club, you could use an RSS feed from product searches you wanted to track, like fabric sewing machines, patterns, etc.

On ANY eBay search page after the auctions:

scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the RSS link:

You can search on nearly topic using google blog search, and every search there has an RSS feed as well. For example, my could could benefit from a page with an aggregation of the lastest blog postings about WordPress!

Now that I’ve given you some RSS ideas, let’s take find out how to aggregate them into WordPress in a usable fashion. I’ve used a few RSS feed aggregator plugins over the years, but the only that seems to still exist (and be updated frequently) is Feed WordPress.

By using Feed WordPress you can “aggregate” RSS feeds and publish them as WordPress posts. You can see where this can be highly abused by unscrupulous bloggers who want to steal content from other places so they can profit at the original author’s expense. There’s also no reason why you can’t use this for good, and aggregate simple titles and excerpts of posts that might be useful to your visitors. In that regard it’s no different than what a search engine or news compilation site does anyway. If you’re worried about duplicate content, you can go as far as to add an entry into your robots.txt file for noindex, nofollow, and you could even manually remove it from your XML sitemap.

Post can be configured any way you like, giving linkback attribution (or not), and web sites can even be listed as authors (contributors) in your blogroll. You choose what tags and categories are assigned to them, and where the permalinks point. For the most part, the posts you aggregate just look like regular blog posts.

Maybe you want something a little bit simpler than turning RSS feeds into actual blog posts, and you just want to take that Craigslist RSS feed, or eBay RSS feed and list the contents onto a paged page. WordPress already has the ability to parse RSS using the included magpie library.

By using this simple bit of code in any WordPress theme page:


<?php include_once(ABSPATH . WPINC . '/rss.php');
wp_rss('http://example.com/rss/feed/goes/here', 20); ?>

…you can parse any Worpress feed into a list of simple linked titles. This is an incredibly simple way to add value to your blog, and you could add as many different feeds (or numbers of posts) per page as you want. Just keep in mind that this is live (nothing is cached) the more feeds, or more posts per feed you add, the slower the page might be to generate.

9. Membership site

There are bunches of reasons you might want to have a closed “members only” web site. Maybe you need something only your family can access, or a private site for your business or club. Maybe you want to sell access to content, and you need part (or all) of your site walled off from public view.

Memberwing is a WordPress plugin that allows you to setup a membership site. Like many plugins there’s a free and a “pro” version. While the paid versions have all kinds of bells and whistles, the free version does exactly what most people would need, by using special tags it separates “teasers” from premium (paid) content. In this example you can see how content is hidden and users have options to either login or “become a member”.

If you like to keep things a bit simpler than that, you could use the WP Private plugin to restrict access to certain content to registered users. This plugin only hides the content, it doesn’t managage any payment options - so it would be better for a business to use for internal employees, private family content, etc.

Honorable mention goes to the Private RSS Plugin, that would go well with a private membership site.

10. eCommerce Site (online store)

There are plugins that allow you to simple sell single items using PayPal, that’s exactly why the ArtPal Plugin was developed (to sell art). You create a post with a few custom fields and voila! you’re selling art! You could of course use this plugin to sell just about anything using paypal, it doesn’t have to be art.

Maybe your blog accepts donations, or you have a very simple service that you charge for. For that I suggest the Easy Paypal Payment or Donation Accept Plugin:

If you want a solution even simpler than that - I offer you the Paypal Shortcodes Plugin. It doesn’t even have an admin interface - once enabled it allows you to add paypal buttons automatically in posts by using simple WP shortcodes:

You could use Fat Free Cart if you want a bone simple actual shopping cart - but you still want to sell on your blog and accept payments through paypal or google checkout. This plugin is very similar to ArtPal.

There are several plugins that go well beyond the “basics” of selling something through paypal. The eShop Plugin is packed with features such as several payment options, automatic email on successful purchase, multiple options for products, stats, and various shipping options. It seems quite mature, and there are many example stores to view.

By far the most popular though seems to be the eCommerce Plugin for WordPress. It boasts social networking hooks, payment options like paypal, google checkout, Authorize.net and more. It has one page checkout, and lots of documentation and community support. I have to admit, the example sites that use the eCommerce plugin look nearly identical to any of the big box retailers online storefronts:

Conclusion

Well, your’re probably exhausted now - but I’ve definitely lived up to my word and showed you more ways to use WordPress (that aren’t blogging) than you can shake a stick at! I hope this gives you some great ideas for both your own blogs and web sites, as well as your clients!

About the Author

JTPratt writes about being a WordPress Consultant, and has recently launched his newest site - WordPress Directory.

The 3 Feet Please Campaign and Road Guardian

Kiril The Mad Macedonian — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:41:24 PDT

Cars, SUV's, RV's, Busses, and Trucks, OH, MY!!

As I wrote in Dec., when I first reported on the 3 Feet Please Movement, it doesn't matter how safe a bicyclist you are, no matter how properly you share the road with the 4 to 18-Wheeler Majority, the problem of how close, is too close, is of concern to Recreational Cyclists, and Bike Commuters, alike, every single day.

The US states with "3 Foot Laws" are: Florida, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oregon, Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, Utah, Wisconsin, Arizona, South Carolina, Washington, Oklahoma, and Maine... and other states aren't far behind.

In fact, Colorado recently enacted a law that includes a 3 Feet Requirement.

What can people in the other states, and in countries around the world, do to get others to get on board?

Well, there's always the option of making the point with a peaceful, bold, and clear, FASHION STATEMENT. ;-D

Joe Mizereck thought that was a brilliant idea! ;-D

He created a 3 Feet Please Campaign and related T-Shirt, and Cycling Jersey,

He wrote on his site:

"The battle for space between cyclists and motorists is intensifying--worldwide. And the need for space has never been greater. More must be done to educate motorists of the importance of sharing our roads and giving cyclists at least 3 feet of clearance when passing.

As a cyclist who spends a lot of time on the roads in traffic I have experienced numerous close calls. After one frustrating ride I decided to act. I designed a jersey with the words "3 Feet Please" on the back. I shared this idea with several fellow cyclists who thought this could make a difference."

I, too, think it will help.

If nothing else it will get the attention of those we share the road with.

Oh, and, um, if not...when you are flattened from behind, by that SUV, and the cops show up to question the person driving the thing, they can ask him/her if they noticed the words on the shirt you were wearing. ;-D

Check out the website of the 3 Feet Please Worldwide Campaign.

On the Media Page of the website is an amazing 5 min. video report by Fox News in Wisconsin.

It has footage that will blow you away.

Jeff Frings is an ordinary cyclist, and he’s tired of being treated unfairly on the roadways.

His experiences show it’s not just ordinary motorists who put us at risk, it’s municipal workers and even police officers.

So he mounted a couple of video cameras to his bike and put together a blog.

His hard work has successfully gotten the authorities to issue motorists a number of reprimands and traffic citations, and his blog has gained national attention thanks to an article in Velo News.

Check out Jeff's Bike Blog for more information.

On his blog Jeff makes this important point...

He, and Joe, are not alone:

There are people who are wearing/selling jerseys or have started using cameras on rides and calling the police.

Whatever they are doing, the point is they are doing something.

I commend anyone who is trying to make the situation better.

I would also urge anyone who is doing something to talk to your local media about your efforts.

I think educating the public is the key to improving the situation.

To all those who've had enough and decided it's time to do something, thanks and keep up the good work.

As for my own humble efforts, I have a whole archive of personal investigative reports, photos, and reports on other stories: Share the Road, and Trail: Safety Matters!

Riding to work in Long Beach, on 2nd, just past PCH, one January afternoon, I was where I was supposd to be (Or so I thought!), in the side of the lane closest to the curb, but not in the gutter...

That story, with photo, can be read here.

Recently Joe told me of a new site he has helped begin with Max Jones, a fellow Floridian, called Road Guardian... "the first worldwide tool to help cyclists report, mark and share cycling incidents and trouble spots."

As the website describes it:

"The company name is SafeCycling, LLC, a for-profit corporation based in Tallahassee. Max is the tech guru who makes it all happen. Joe, well, he's the cyclist who wants to save other cyclists' lives and make cycling safer for everyone. RoadGuardian.com was Joe's idea… Max gave it life..."

As for its purpose:

To save lives by helping cyclists avoid risky roadways.

There are a lot of wonderful roads to ride around the world and there are some roads that cyclists should avoid because they have problems, danger points, and troublesome histories as experienced by cyclists.

This site offers cyclists a process for reporting, marking and sharing those danger points. This information will help cyclists plan their routes for safe experiences.

And what's equally exciting is that by making cycling safer for existing cyclists we make cycling more attractive to non-cyclists. When non-cyclists become cyclists they increase the numbers of cyclists on the road and this makes it even safer for all cyclists… just think about what that means.

You can learn more about how it works, and how to use it, on the detailed FAQ Page.

I decided to give the site a try, by reporting the incident above, and signed up.

Going to the Reporting Tool I found a collection of questions, and Info Logging Steps to go through.

I had to choose an incident from Close call, Collision, Death, and Trouble Spot.

I chose Trouble Spot.

I next entered the date, time, and location.

Next I had to choose a Problem Type from Vehicle, Dog, Bicyclist, and Road Condition ( No, Pigeon, Cat, Jogger, and Pedestrian were not among the options to choose from ;-D ).

I chose Vehicle.

Next I had to choose directions for me, and the Motorist from N, S, E, W, NW, NE, SW, SE.

If the incident does not involve a Motorist then the Motorist direction is not answered.

Next I had to describe the incident in my own words.

The description is only as good, and as useful, as the contributor takes the time to make it, including the answers to all the other questions before and after, and that might be a problem if the contributor does not take the appropriate time, and effort to be helpful, and clear.

Next I had to answer Yes or No to wether the incident was Harrassment.

Next I had to answer Yes, or No to wether I filed Crash Report with the police.

Next I clicked on Preview to allow the Google Map to change its image to that of the location I provided it, and watched as a Satellite View, with Street Names (The Hybrid, as opposed to simply the Map, or Satellite choices alone.) of the intersection, and its surroundings, appears.

If all is as it should be you click "Yes, this is Correct", or if not, "Change Address".

The map allows the person viewing it to move left, right, and up and down, and zoom in, or out.

Once I approved it a Thank You note appeared, and I was done!

To make sure all really went well I went to the Report Viewer Page.

Once there I have several menus to chose options from in the Filter.

I Chose Trouble Spot, United States, Long Beach, and hit Search.

The map appears with the location marked with either a yellow marker for Close Call, Red for Collision, Black for Death, or Orange for Trouble Spot.

Clicking on the marker brings a pop-up allowing you to read the incident report, and also see a street level view of the location.

Road Guardian is a real cool tool, and while members don't have a page where all their personal reports can be found in 1 place, and there are still growing pains of a Technical Nature, that doesn't keep me from recommending the site.

As you can see, in the photos above, I have now taken to wearing the 3 Feet Please T-Shirt, and Jersey, on my Commutes to, and from, work. ;-D

The reactions from motorists has, so far, been positive in the 2 weeks I've been wearing the shirts.

Motorists of all types have given me a wide birth, and if I have taken the lane, as I do for 4 miles on the ride thru Long Beach, no-one has honked their horn, instead just going around me in the lane to my left.

On the bus I've had a few people ask about the shirt, and the Bus drivers have gotten a kick out of them.

So far I've had no cyclists approach me on the street about them, but expect that that will happen a lot as time goes by. ;-D