I was driving home this morning, and passed by some road construction a couple of blocks from my house. As I was about to drive into an area where workers were taring, I saw a sign that said “Fresh Oil”.
The recent gulf oil spill has been in the news alot recently. The media has talked about how oil from the gulf coast might have otherwise ended up in our cars or furnaces, but seldom talks about other uses for oil, such as road tar.
The “Fresh Oil” sign got me thinking. We use oil for virtually everything… plastics, roads, and the list goes on.
Anyway, I stopped back and snapped a couple of pictures of the construction. I can’t wait to drive down the freshly paved France Avenue once they have finished their work!
I went with my brother Brian to the Como Zoo in St. Paul today. He is really into animals, and they just opened a new polar bear exhibit yesterday; so I figured it was time we paid a visit. Check out these pictures from our expedition.
Earlier this winter, I decided that I wanted to redesign my website. I felt like it looked good, but I didn’t feel like it looked great. I started doing some research, and learned that a new default theme for WordPress (the software I use to power this website) would be available this spring. I decided to wait until now to do the redesign, using the new theme, Twenty Ten, as a framework for the new template.
By using the latest theme, I am able to take advantage of some new built-in tools that will help me better manage the site. I was also able to use much of the default design code to craft a look I like.
I can’t say I am enamored by the header image I am using, so that will probably be changing soon. Other than that, I think it is mostly finished. If you have you notice any problems with the design, please let me know.
Summer has begun for me now, and although I will be busy, I hope I have more time to blog than I have in the past month. As always, thanks for visiting!
I recently upgraded my blog software to the release candidate version of WordPress 3.0. I am very happy with how it performs, and am excited that WordPress and WordPress MU have merged. This will make the development process much easier, especially for those of us with WordPress MU sites.
There is one new “feature” that I don’t like, however. A new filter in version 3.0 will automatically change all instances of “Wordpress” (note the small “p”) in posts, titles, or comments to “WordPress”. While the later is technically the correct way to refer to the software, I philosophically do not like it when software changes the meaning of user’s words without their consent. How can one provide examples of mispellings? How can a blog owner ensure that the integrity of commenter’s remarks are left intact?
While a spelling assistant is nice at times, sometimes you need to break the rules.
I wrote a short plugin (actually, it is just three lines of code) to turn this filter off. You can download it from the WordPress plugin repository.
If you don’t feel like installing a plugin, you could delete the code associated with this filter in your WordPress install. Be sure to back up your files and datebase before you modify anything.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.
I have been busy finishing up those end-of-the-year projects the past few days. It is nice to see projects that have been long-in-the-making coming to a close.
One project that I am particularly excited about is a web page I made to share a poem that I wrote for a Creative Writing class. I had fun with the design, and the page even allows visitors to submit text for inclusion in the poem.
Check out Sliding through summer.
Are you driving a beater? Chances are, if you are a college student, you might be!
With Kevin’s Car Carousel’s supper sales department to the rescue, you could be riding in style!
Check out my latest jingle!
I just happened to stumble upon a news story that I wrote for a journalism class in high school. It is amazing how time flies! I had totally forgotten about this!
Welcome to tomlany.net, home of Tom Lany's radio jingles, the latest on Tom's web and journalism projects, and whatever else is on his mind. Tom grew up in the Minneapolis area and is now attending 