MySQL

There isn’t a MySQL installer package for Snow Leopard yet so you’ll have to build it from source. (I know, really scary sounding, huh. I hadn’t compiled anything before this and was intimidated. But it’s easy. Promise.) Follow this extremely easy-to-follow tutorial by Dan Benjamin and then come right back here for the rest.

Apache & PHP

Welcome back. By now you should be able to connect to your shiny new MySQL instance. Now, if you load any PHP pages that use any of the date functions you’ll see this error (or something similar):

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier.

PHP 5.3 now requires the timezone to be specified instead of trying to guess at it.

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
2. Copy the built-in php.ini.default file to php.ini by typing sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini and pressing Return. Supply your password.
3. Edit php.ini by typing sudo open php.ini. It should open in your default text editor.
4. Search the file for the phrase “timezone”. You’ll find a line that reads ;date.timezone =. Change it to date.timezone = America/Denver (or whatever timezone you choose from this list). Remember to delete the semicolon from the beginning of the line.
5. Because of some code I share with colleagues, I ended up needing to restore the short_open_tag attribute by finding that phrase and setting the value to On.
6. Also, MySQL couldn’t connect to anything until I commented out the mysql.default_socket property by placing a semicolon at the beginning of the line. This lets it use the built-in value instead.
7. After making these changes to your php.ini file you need to restart Apache to get it to read the new values in. In Terminal type sudo apachectl graceful and test your local php code in your browser.

Happy coding!

I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.

So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.

I hope with all my heart that we shall never slip into a depression.

…

I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which hangs over the people of the nation, including our own people. In March 1997 that debt totaled $1.2 trillion, which represented a 7 percent increase over the previous year. In December of 1997, 55 to 60 million households in the United States carried credit card balances. These balances averaged more than $7,000 and cost $1,000 per year in interest and fees. Consumer debt as a percentage of disposable income rose from 16.3 percent in 1993 to 19.3 percent in 1996.

Everyone knows that every dollar borrowed carries with it the penalty of paying interest. When money cannot be repaid, then bankruptcy follows. There were 1,350,118 bankruptcies in the United States last year. This represented a 50 percent increase from 1992. In the second quarter of this year, nearly 362,000 persons filed for bankruptcy, a record number for a three-month period.

I recognize that it may be necessary to borrow to get a home, of course. But let us buy a home that we can afford and thus ease the payments which will constantly hang over our heads without mercy or respite for as long as 30 years.

What a wonderful feeling it is to be free of debt, to have a little money against a day of emergency put away where it can be retrieved when necessary.

I urge you, brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.

Perhaps it doesn’t take a prophet of God to recognize the signs of a failing economy based on the greed and insatiable appetite of the people. However, it seems we (as a whole) still failed to heed the warnings. Let’s hope that we learn our lesson early, suffer the consequences of our ridicuous spending, and get back on the track of common sense.

I’ve only scratched the surface but I do love the ability to render text in three dimensions.

Just sitting here waiting for the keynote by Jeffery Zeldman. It’s really exciting finally being able to attend these events that I’d only dream and pout about just last year. They really go all-out with the venue and ambient. It’s at the Palace Hotel this year and it’s super ritzy.

I’m sure it’s been said before but, Zeldman is a lot shorter in person that I thought and he’s wearing pink Crocs today . Also, Eric Meyer’s hair is super long…weird.

Ben Markham, a BYU alumnus who served as an LDS missionary in Ghana discovered a serious problem: as many as 10,000 schools operate without any electricity. So, he collaborated with the BYU School of Engineering and Technology and created a design-based solution. Using existing and affordable parts, he and the students constructed a merry-go-round that acts as a generator. The energy from the spinning playground toy is stored in a battery which in turn powers the school’s low-power LED lights. Brilliant!

The kids get a toy (which are, sadly, rare) and the school gets resources for more effective teaching. As another stroke of genius, the LED lights are themselves rechargeable so the students can take them home with them to continue their studies.

I was touched by the generosity and intelligence displayed through this act of service. It’s stories like these that convince me that there is always something to improve by way of design and God makes it possible for those willing to listen and follow through.

My precious Daemon Tools (DT) software mysteriously disappeared after an upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate (the only reason for the upgrade was the need for remote desktop). I figured it was a simple glitch during the upgrade process so I simply went to reinstall it. I was met with an endless loop of installation screens telling me that the computer needed to reboot to continue the installation. Apparently the STPD driver that DT uses was having a problem installing itself. Finally I found the solution! (This only seems to happen when upgrading to Ultimate from a previous Vista version.)

Open the registry by pressing Windows Key + R then typing regedit. Once inside the registry editor navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\sptd. Right-click on sptd and choose Delete. Here you may need to right-click on the folders under sptd, choose Permissions... and then set all of the users to Full Control. (You’re going to delete them all in a few seconds so it doesn’t matter who has rights to them.)

Reboot and run the DT installer as Administrator (right-click, choose Run as administrator...). That solved my problem and hopefully it helps you too.