Four Levels of Competency
I was tickled to read in Teaching by Lecture of what N. Whitman calls the four levels of competency. The levels advance thus (my paraphrasing in parenthesis):
- Unconscious incompetence (you don’t know you can’t do it)
- Conscious incompetence (you know you can’t do it)
- Conscious competence (you know how to do it)
- Unconscious competence (you can do it, but you don’t know how).
Eventum Extension for MediaWiki
I couldn’t find a MediaWiki extension for Eventum when I needed one, so this evening I knocked one up.
It’s fairly basic, very unoptimised, and probably far from perfect, but it works for me, and someone might use it as the basis for something better. It uses PHPs MySQL library to open a connection to a database and execute a query, the results are then avilable to MediaWiki (but perhaps sadly don’t become part of the version controlled content).
To use it in a page add <eventum bug="123"/> where 123 is the number of the bug you’d like to query.
Output is formatted through an eventum template which you’ll have to create, the parameters of that template from 1-5 are, in this basic example, summary, created date, closed date, status title, and status color. e.g. {{eventum|An example summary|1st Nov 2008|2nd Nov 2009|Closed|#00FF00}}
WordCamp UK 2009 Tickets
Last year’s WordCamp UK was a huge success. Around sixty people turned up to the Birmingham gig with backgrounds as diverse as one might hope for and expect, given that WordPress is used by all kinds of people for all sorts of things: bloggers, developers, hackers, journalists, authors, academics, idealists and dreamers were all there, and most stood up and talked for a few minutes on what they’re doing with WordPress, or how they’re making WordPress better, or how they’d like to do stuff if only they could find the help (and lo, the help was forthcoming, and it was good). Following on from that success, it made sense to make WordCampUK an annual affair, so WordCampUK 2009 was born. More…
Harbinger of Doom
Every season has it’s harbinger.
The first train service disrupted by leaves reminds us that autumn is on the way.
Eddying drain pools tell us the leaves are now successfully clogging the sewers, and winter is near.
These temporary blockages are swiftly removed, making a terrific compost that nurtures the first daffodils of spring, giving us hope that good weather and good times are ahead once more, and then, as the winsome joy of sunshine-halo afternoons begins to fill our hearts, the harbinger of summer floats into our unsuspecting homes.
The summertime harbinger is of course not hayfever, but the first noisy muppet with a stereo in their back garden, banging out a loop of brainless dance tracks.
If humans can’t be considerate towards their next-door neighbours, and indeed, the neighbours a long way down the road, what hope do they have of peacefully sharing the planet?
Sipping Socialism (via Podcast)
As a five year old in 1977, punks scared me. In the village where I grew up there were only two bits of graffiti that I can recall, one was the anarchy symbol, daubed large by the shoe shop, and the other was the word “sex pistols” enhancing the wall near the public toilets, just next door to the Baptist church. More…
Free Vouchers
A quick thanks to www.myvouchercodes.co.uk who just saved me a tenner on a delivery pizza. I’ve used them for a couple of deals and they’ve proved to be well worth a visit. If you’re ordering something online and there’s a special field for the lucky few who have a voucher code, then traditionally, it’s someone else who gets the actual voucher with the code on it, no bonus there. The web changes that, and sites like this are going to change the way special offers are run. In the mean time, cheap pizza rules.
Hello world!
It was time for a re-jig. Normal content will return shortly. has returned, albeit with a slightly modified look. 
Shout if you’re missing anything, anyone.
There’s still bits and bobs to do, specifically:
- switch wp-super-cache back on (it’s tending to give me white-screen-of-death) [DONE]
- integrate the bb-press and wordpress logins
- clean up the theme crossover between bb-press and wordpress
- Improved front page.
- Maybe add facebook connect logins (whilst facebook sorts out its openID support)
First Mac
It’s now two weeks since we added a Mac to our arsenal of machinery. After some minor teething issues, mainly to do with finding various characters on the keyboard, we’re both agreed that it works very nicely. More…
The Velvet Hearts: Into the World
At last. The Velvet Hearts debut album, Into the World, has just been released. It’s currently available exclusively from CDBaby. It is the best of times, and the worst of times, to be trying to build a career as a musician. The online revolution is both generous in its audience and stingy in its fiscal reward; so getting to the point of releasing an album is no small feat. They’re regularly gigging, and their live shows are very good, so if you can catch them, do so. More…
Luxo Jr Ball by Pixar
In every Pixar movie, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, etc. there is a small yellow ball, with a red star and a blue stripe. You have to look hard to find it, but it’s there. The ball was originally a central prop in the 1986 animated short Luxo Jr.
I want one of those balls – a real, small, inflatable one. Where can I buy a Luxo Jr. Ball? I’ve tried the Pixar website, no good. I’ve tried the Disney store, no good.
Someone out there must know this… anyone?
