New Site, mat.tc API and Wordpress Plugin

// January 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Unless you’re reading this via RSS, you’ve already seen the new site I’ve rolled out. I really like it and hope you do as well. I did more than just redesign the way it looks though. It’s more than a pretty face.

I spent some time trying to clean up the information on the site too.  Specifically, I shortened the about page and really over hauled the portfolio page.  The portfolio is way better than it was:

I think the new page is a lot cleaner and because there’s SO much less text, it should be easier to read and understand.

I also thought I’d play with some APIs and get into Wordpress a but while I built the new site.  I certainly brushed up my PHP and also learned a bit about Wordpress Plugins.  I wrote a plugin like Twitter Tools from Alex King – except mine uses my own http://mat.tc url shortener.  Obviously to do this I wrote a simple shorten API modeled after bit.ly’s API.  It works wonderfully.  I can tweet from the site when logged in.  Automatic new post tweets also use mat.tc now which saves me the extra steps.

Twitter Tools doesn’t use OAuth though, so I had to rewrite a bit of the code so Twitter would recognize my calls and show the correct “From: ” line for tweets.  But that wasn’t too bad.

To round out the new site, I created a new logo too.  The old logo (in the image above) was just a simple play on my initials.  While exploring new ideas I came back to this ‘letters in my name’ idea.  So the little dude is made up of letters in my name (the m, c, and 2 l’s).  I added the tie because I thought it clarified it was a person – plus the business tie-in worked (sorry).  Font is Insignia.

Anyway, I’m really glad the content on the site is updated.  The new design, logo and mat.tc/Twitter integration is also nice.  I threw in a little flash on the login page for fun too: check it out.

Enjoy!

First Time Watching Glenn Beck

// December 17th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

I’ve been watching Glenn Beck for the the first time for about ten minutes now and I’m speechless.  Knowing millions of people watch this seriously concerns me for a couple of reasons.  I just don’t understand the disconnect from reality and the massive generalizations they get away with.  Worse, they overlook such key components of issues in an effort to serve the points they’re trying to make that they actually distort reality.

Now I suppose from a pure entertainment point of view anything goes – but this program has the words Fox News spinning in the bottom left corner at all times – and I just don’t believe most people can separate what one part of the screen says from what the talking head in the center is preaching.  I say preaching very intentionally.  I think this is very intentional and calculated though.

Back to Beck though: So far he’s said that health care reform is unconstitutional.  He’s arguing that the government shouldn’t force anyone to purchase something from private companies.  Instead of discussing how this would be unconstitutional, shouldn’t we be discussing why the right to health care hasn’t already been added to the constitution.  How is this show and/or network getting away with arguing any individual in this country doesn’t deserve such a basic right.  I just don’t get it.  It makes me so angry.

Then he went on to complain that all the progressives (“communists”) want to import European ideals and how that’s such a bad idea.  But he’s generalizing so grossly when he says we’re creating a European socialist utopia by reforming health care or working on climate bills.  He went on to discuss the lack of stability in Europe over the last century and asked why we want that.  What in the world does stability have to do with health care or climate improvement measures?  No one is asking to bring that instability across the pond.  Some of us can accept that Europeans can develop better ideas once in a while.

I think it’s ironic that the instability he rails against is exactly what his show is creating by introducing so much fantasy and misinformation to millions everyday.  And back to by question about what stability has to do with health/climate reform….I think I can answer that, because if we do what these right wing nut-jobs want, health care costs will consume our federal spending.  Just don’t tell the right these rising costs might cut into defense spending one day.  That’ll be entertainment!

The most amusing part of the right wing and health care reform is that they’re being played by the insurance lobbies because interests are, for now, aligned.  The lobbies are truly only loyal to their revenue streams – and right now they’ve accomplished all their goals by stripping out any chance of a public option.  As this (non) reform bill stands now, the insurance companies stand to make a ton more money.  So much of this agenda has been driven through the right.

Now back to health care: I’d rather see a single payer system personally.  This current crap is really only good for one thing – and it’s not reform – it’s investment returns.  If this all goes through as it stands now I’d like to invest heavily in health insurance so I get something out of this.  I guess you could say it’d be joining the dark side, but at least I’d get a piece of the billions being raped out of consumers pockets…all for health care.  Thinking this way makes me want to correct a previous sentence and say that Wall Street is controlling the health care debate – because it’s their profit expectations and greed that is driving the insurance companies to lobby so hard.  They’re probably, even if indirectly, pulling the strings.

But since I’m on the other side of the fence from Beck and the right on health care, he’d call me a communist or socialist.

Alright, that’s the end of my ranting for now, I have work to get back to.  I just get so angry that this debate about reforming health care has developed into a situation where the Democrats are on the defensive from such illogical, politically self-serving, and often fantasy-based attacks.  I guess there’s another irony here now that I think of it:  I do think the far-right has good intentions at heart, but these tactics are more damaging to our beloved country than I think they’re aware of.

P.s. What’s with all the buy gold ads – that’s all I’ve seen for commercials!