DialUp in the US

March 7, 2005 eiriksoLeave a comment

Last year I was travelling in the US all of january, and needed a dial up connection to the internet. I was not ready to buy a plan at a local host that needed subscription or a monthly fee. I just wanted a host that covered all of the US with local numbers and the ability to pay for an amount of time without registering with an american adress etc..

I ended up using BudgetDialup. And, because I do not bother to scan through all the different companies again, I post it here. Mostly as a reference for myself. For anyone else looking for a easy way to get access to the internet through a dialup connection while in the US, I can recommend Budget. They worked fine and acceptet my norwegian credit card.

Snowkiting at Hardangervidden

March 5, 2005 eiriksoLeave a comment

Click on the pictures for a larger version.

Basic training this weekend. Not very windy, but fantastic weather. I have never tried this before. After one day of training I must admit that this is seriously fun! And we haven’t even tried with our skis on yet…

And for the people that want to take a little tour of some very nice pictures, here is some pictures from a friend of mine, Anarkistix:
– – Anarkistix Kite Photo Gallery – –

How to create a random banner in WordPress

March 4, 2005 eirikso9 Comments

Update:
At the bottom of this page you can find a simpler solution to this question.

Update2:
I have currently removed the random banner from my design. Not because it didn’t work well, but because I wanted a simpler design.

As you might have noticed, the banner at the top of this site changes as you navigate the site. To implement this in WordPress is quite simple.

You need this plugin:
Random Banner
Random banner how to install

And a couple of banners. I made mine with a template I made in Photoshop. You can download my template here:
Template to edit the default banner in WordPress

Or you can make a couple of banners using this tool:
flickr-to-WP-banner

When you have set up Random Banner and made some top banners, place them in the random banner folder as noted in the instructions for the plugin.

Activate the Random Banner plugin.

Now you need to edit line number 27 in “header.php” for your current theme. You should replace the existing line 27 with this one:
#header { background: url("") no-repeat bottom center; }

NOTE: I have not bothered to install a plugin that lets me print pure PHP-code on my page, so you can not copy line 27 directly from here. You need to delete the space between < and ? before "php random_banner…"

…and off you go!

You can read about my current banners here.

WordPress 1.5 so far

March 4, 2005 eirikso2 Comments

I switched from MovableType 3.14 to WordPress 1.5 a couple of weeks ago. I actually paid for a license of MT, but still I was tempted to try WordPress. Both because DreamHost offer One-Click install of WP and because I never really felt like home in PERL-based MovableType. Its like a friend of mine, Trond Isaksen says “PERL is 20% programming and 80% Magic”. Well, Trond is a wizard, and masters PERL perfectly well. I am not a wizard. I am not even a programmer. I have done my share of basic, assembly, pascal and C, but I am not a programmer.

And what do I feel about the switch? I feel good! I feel that I have much more control of what is happening now by using WordPress. I have even done some modifications and can conclude that PHP is not so much about magic. It is actually possible to understand.

Plugins like BAStats, Exhibit and the rest of the stuff from Owen Winkler alone makes it very difficult to choose another publishing tool.

BAStats gives you nice and accurate trafic data right in your WordPress administration GUI.

Exhibit gives you an excellent tool to upload and manage pictures in your blog. Also directly from your WordPress administration GUI.

The fact that WordPress actually is free makes the world a better place to live. So, if we could get world peace and no hunger then we are all set. 😉

A friend of mine, Ã˜ystein has set up a good starting point for people that want to try out WordPress: Customize wordpress.

An update on BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

March 3, 2005 eirikso3 Comments

It seems like I wasn’t that stupid after all:

Thanks to Eirikso for catching a mistake in the new install instructions for Bot-Check in WordPress 1.5. The old instructions have you remove an if statment that checks for a logged in user. A new download has been put up with correct install instructions.

To fix:

Add

Right before the line

Logged in as …

So, now I am up and running with the latest version of BotCheck and can recommend this little plugin for everyone running WordPress 1.5!

Related post:
BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

Make your own mustard with chili and honey

March 2, 2005 eirikso3 Comments

(You can find this article in Norwegian here.)

Today I made a new batch of our favourite mustard. And why not snap some pictures while I make it an share the recipe? Well, I did:

2 tbsp mustard powder
2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp brown mustard seeds
2 tbsp water
6 dried red chilies

2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil

Run the mustard seeds and chilies in a grinder. Add the mustard powder. Add the water and mix into a dry mixture. Let it stand for 10 minutes, developing the mustard tastes.

Add salt, honey, vinegar and olive oil. Run in a blender. Keep in the refrigerator for years. The taste will change and after a while it will be much more smooth than in the beginning. Still, this mustard will keep tasty and interesting for a long time.

If you want to be completely without any compromises when you make this mustard make sure that the honey is pure Devon honey from England or the best Acacia Honey from France. The salt should be sea salt from Maldon in England or Aigues-Mortes in France. The olive oil should be fresh extra virgin from Italy. Selvapiana 2004 is an exeptional oil.

The Venetian

March 2, 2005 eiriksoLeave a comment

The Venetian

Originally uploaded by eirikso.

Just testing the blog functionallity from flickr. The picture is taken inside The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. A truly insane place.

I have been in Venice in Italy and was somewhat disapointed because I found it too crowded with tourists (…a strange thing to say, as I visited Venice as a tourist myself – but don’t we all want to be the only tourist at the places we visit…?). It was difficult to find people actually living in the city and restaurants made for the people living there. Venice is truly beautiful, and all places that have no cars is kind of tranquil in their own way. Still, I prefer to meet real people and visit real cafes and restaurants when I travel to a city.

…the Venetian in Las Vegas and Venice in Italy have as much in common as a fake Rolex and its real counterpart, still it is kind of interesting to have visited both places.

BotCheck for WordPress 1.5

March 2, 2005 eirikso4 Comments

Edit:
I have had problems with BotCheck preventing trackbacks. I have deactivated it and try another plugin. More on that issue here!

You find an update on this issue here:
BotCheck 1.1 fixed

BotCheck

I am using BotCheck to prevent comment spam. This works fine in WordPress 1.5. I had to do some small changes to get BotCheck Version 1.0 work in 1.5

You have to change the comments.php-file in your current theme directory. My comments.php look like this:
comments.php

So, it works and I am happy, but BotCheck is now upgraded to version 1.1. So, I tried to upgrade, but got an error:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ELSE in
…../wp-content/themes/wwweiriksocom/comments.php on line 98

Somebody at some point said “if it works, don’t fix it”, so I am back to version 1.0 with the fix in my comments.php mentioned here.

I will check back to www.blueeye.us to see if someone replies to my comment. I have probably done something very stupid, and the fix is probably very easy…

eirikso

Photo, media, technology

Month: March 2005