How to Get Livejournal Crossposter working in WP 2.5

One of the plugins I use on a regular basis is LiveJournal Crossposter, since I have several friends who are on LJ. However, ever since WP 2.3 or so, I've had to go into to the wp_options table and manually update the settings for this plugin after upgrading WordPress. I decided to do a clean install when I upgraded to WP 2.5 and discovered that this plugin will not activate without a small change to the code.

To get this plugin working in WP 2.3 or greater, manually update ljxp_username and ljxp_password in the wp_options table. I have found that just entering my username does the trick, and I can enter my password from the LiveJournal Settings tab in the WP Admin Panel. If that doesn't work for you, manually update ljxp_password by generating an MD5 hash and pasting the result into ljxp_password.

To resolve the WP 2.5 activation error, open lj_crosspost.php and replace:

if(version_compare($wp_version, "2.1", "<")) {
require_once(ABSPATH . '/wp-includes/template-functions-links.php');
}

with

if(version_compare($wp_version, "2.3", "<")) {
require_once(ABSPATH . '/wp-includes/link-template.php');
}

The author hasn't updated this plugin for awhile now, but the Google Code LJXp issues list is a good place to look if you're having other problems with this plugin.

[Geocaching] Delorme Challenge Grids for Virginia, Maryland and Delaware

I've been working on the Virginia and Maryland + Delaware Delorme Challenges. Tracking which rectangles I've completed is a bit of a pain, so I made a couple of draw layers for Delorme Street Atlas. I had to guesstimate the longitudes on the inner edge of the Gazetteer, but everything should be accurate to within about 30 seconds.

As of right now, they only work in Delorme Street Atlas, but if I have time, I might get around to making them compatible with Google Earth. Hopefully I should have Tennessee and Louisiana up by the end of the week.

Download:
Virginia Delorme Challenge Grid
Maryland + Delaware Delorme Challenge Grid

To use, go to the Draw tab, click File, and import the file as a new layer.

A Space of My Own

I've been sitting in Wegman's for about an hour not and have probably gotten more done on my personal projects than I normally do in a week. Perhaps this is because there is no ongoing war about who gets to sit on my lap or "but I want water!" every time I manage to sit still for a minute.

I managed to find a quiet corner with an available outlet, and had a nice lunch without anyone trying to put food in my mouth or attempt to knock my plate onto the floor if I set it down for a moment to refill a certain someone's water. It's nice.

I've been working on a new theme for 2.3 and I managed to get most of the behind the scenes stuff done today. Now I need to dig my desk out of the random things that have accumulated on it, so I can work on the design.

Facebook vs. Personal Blogging

So, I was reading a post about the possibility of Facebook killing personal blogging. I've never really been a big social network person, and most of my friends are either on Livejournal or Wordpress.com. But a fair percentage seem to have a profile on MySpace or Facebook, if not both.

I have a Facebook app that pulls headlines from my RSS feed, but that's about as close as I get to blogging on a social network. Maybe it's my group of friends, but social networks have always seemed closer to IM or IRC than blogging. There's banter and most conversations aren't started by the profile owner. And we do silly things, like recruit each other as vampires or pirates or use Super Poke. More substantial subjects tend to stay on our blogs and off of Facebook.

I have to wonder if it's not so much Facebook is killing personal blogging as what's categorized as personal blogging just never was a great fit for blogging. If something that's a better fit comes along, it makes sense that people would prefer that.

Things That Take You Back

It's hard to believe it's been so long since BeOS has crossed my mind, but it's also been awhile since I used to live with someone who was a big Be fanboy. I happened across it almost 10 years ago, when I first started going to college full time, and it walked out of my life about the time I let some other things go from the latter half of my teenage years. I guess there were probably about 5 or so years where I lived and breathed BeOS, so it always kind of takes by surprise when I realize so many people have no clue what it is.

"But those hard core enthusiasts that the operating system had picked up were loath to let go."

Truer words were never spoken. I'm not surprised at all to hear about Haiku and I'd be even less surprised if I saw a familiar name or two on the list of contributors for Haiku.