robotic thoughts...

Last night I bravely decided to upgrade claytron.com to the latest Plone release. Luckily I already converted it over to a buildout based install a couple months back. This was pivotol in my speedy migration effort since it allowed me to switch products in and out so effortlessly.

This site is fairly simple since I'm only using a couple add-on products. Quills is the primary product I use. The old site was running Plone 2.1.4 and Quills 1.5 RC3. I tried to go directly to 3.1.7, but the portal_migration failed. Rather than try and debug that nasty error, I decided to migrate to the latest 2.5 release first. This was a complete success!

Next, I updated the buildout with all the Plone 3 compatible versions of the products. Then changed the plone recipe to point to the latest 3.1.x release. After that, I ran the buildout and started the site back up. Now it was time to try the portal_migration again. It blew up again, but with a less painful error. Quills 1.6 and above no longer uses a custom workflow and therefore made something unhappy. All I had to do was set the weblog types back to the default Plone workflow and try again. This was a success!

Next up was the Quills migration. This is automatically run while quickinstalling Products.Quills in the portal_quickinstaller. No issues here either. There are some Quills artifacts that have to be removed by hand including the quills_tool, RPCAuth, blog archive folder and blog drafts folder. Also, I didn't like the way the beta of quills.app handled the addition of the portlets to the weblog. It's currently creating a new 'category' of portlets by interface that has no way of managing them through the Plone interface. I posted a hint on the Quills dev list on how to remove them via a debug session.

Lastly I needed to update my custom theme. I moved all my main_template customizations into custom viewlets. Any template overrides were re-integrated using z3c.jbot. Then I removed my Install.py in favor of a GenericSetup profile. That was it! Now I'm ready to upgrade to Plone 3.2 when it gets released in the not too distant future :)

Now that I'm on the Plone 3 series I was able to quickly install CacheFu via an egg. That should help my site's performance quite a bit out of the gate. I also installed the python markdown package and added the transform so I can write in plain text anywhere in Markdown, then copy paste into the site. Thanks to tomster for evangelizing it, I was sold after reading the philosophy and synopsis. This post was written in Markdown, and hopefully many more... :)

My name is claytron and I'm a party shuffle addict.  There, I said it.  In my opinion the iTunes party shuffle feature is pure awesomeness.  I have been using it like mad since it was introduced.  I'm still amazed when I talk to iTunes users that haven't used it.

My typical modus operandi is to set the party shuffle to a rated smart playlist (3 stars and up or 4 stars and up).  Then if i want to add an album in the mix I can select it and 'Play Next in Party Shuffle' or 'Add to Party Shuffle'.  This is where AppleScript can come in handy.  Doug Adams wrote a nifty little AppleScript that allows you to select a track and add that track's album to the party shuffle!  This really comes in handy when my eMusic downloads arrive in iTunes.  I can sort my library by 'Date Added' and then select a track from one of the newly imported albums and have it start playing next in the party shuffle.  Totally effing awesome.

So herein lies the next issue.  Let's say I just downloaded five albums and imported them into iTunes.  You would think you could highlight a track from each album and then use the 'Play Next in Party Shuffle' script.  But instead it pops up with a selection dialog with all the albums in your library.  For me this is completely useless, I have 2000+ albums.  So I went ahead and modified the script to add the album for each selected track.

After doing so I emailed Doug about the modifications.  As you might guess, he gets a ton of emails with modifications and fixes for all the scripts posted on his site and can't possibly include them all.  I also don't think he quite understood the purpose of the modification.  But since most of the scripts are licensed under the GPL you can still benefit from my mods!

There are two scripts.  The first one is the 'Play Album(s) Next in Party Shuffle'  which allows you to select one or more tracks and have each track's album be cued up next in party shuffle.  The second script is 'Add Album(s) to Party Shuffle' which does the same thing except it adds the album to the end of the party shuffle.  That way you don't have to add an album in the middle of another!

Both of these scripts require that the party shuffle is currently playing.  I couldn't find a way around that in AppleScript (but I'm still an AppleScript n00b).  The only other item to mention is that I added a property to the top of each script called 'show_party_shuffle'.  If this is true then you'll be taken to the party shuffle after adding the tracks.  If you don't want to be switched over, you can set it to false.

Cat macros are pretty damn funny. Especially when combined with other internet memes like PostSecret. I was playing around with skitch and decided to modify a cat macro to make it funnier...

Uploaded with Skitch!

There was a little poem I wrote a couple years ago that I thought I'd lost due to a backup malfunction. While backing up some old jam session and song idea projects I happened to stumble across it.

a golden tongue not full of words

after nine one may wonder
why eel etch the sky
get your twelfth ear through the tube
rome intense hiss desert

I haven't blogged in a while.  Time is not permitting.  Went camping last weekend and tried out my new hiking boots. They kick much ass.  Aircraft aluminum lacing system was an excellent idea.  Listening to The Joggers right now.  Good shit.  Isn't cake supposed to have a rarities album out some time.  I just bought a bunch of other music from eMusic and iTunes.  Hopefully just as pleasing.  I'm searching for a new car.  My eye is on a Volvo 850 wagon.  If i'm lucky a '97 T-5 with low miles and a low price will show up soon.  I should upgrade this site to use Plone 3.0 (but i'm not sure if Quills is ready for that).  /terminate rambling.

I hope that the current roller derby revival lasts a long time. Lucie and I witnessed our first bout tonight and it was a blast. Now you're saying, "Why the hell is he talking about roller derbies? Didn't that sport die a long time ago?". It did die. Now it is breathing new life and governed by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).

If you are living in Indy (or any other city with a derby team) you have to check this out. Our very own Naptown Roller Girls put the smack down on the Hard Knox Roller Girls tonight. Things were looking bleak for a few minutes but the Tornado Sirens (Naptown Roller Girlds) pulled out to an 18 point lead at the second intermission. They held on to win by 3 points in the last Jam. At one point one of our girls (Touretta Lynn?) threw one of the Hard Knox girls (black-n-blue) down and a fight broke out between them. The Naptown coach ran over to break it up and was then thrown out for doing so. If that wasn't crazy enough the coach came back over and threw a chair into the rink and proceeded to get into a fight with one of the refs! This was pure madness. Finally the dust settled and all was right in the world again except that black-n-blue should have been thrown out.

This is the NRG's first season and it's been a pretty good one so far as I can tell. I'll see you all at the next bout on May 12. Go Tornado Sirens! I'll be yelling the loudest for Jane Ire #1984 because she was totally kicking ass against Knoxville. J. Roller #420 is in a close second.

There has been all sorts of excitement about Amit Singh's MacFUSE product recently on the internets. For the life of me I could not figure out why. Amit went ahead and cleared all that up for me in his Macworld 2007 talk titled "Taming Mac OS X File Systems".

The thing that really got me excited about this technology is the interweaving of the web and your computer. When he started showing of the DocsFS I was sold. The PicassawebFS was quite interesting as well. I wonder if the same thing would be possible with Flickr?

Broken Social Scene ... ... the vogue. .. canadian Rock Therapy. The opening band was a phenominal rush of sonic masterpiece. No words were spoken while the music was playing. And it was a really powerful performance. Then BSS came on and started with my favorite cut of of the latest album. Shoreline...... When that moment hit, the stage was in a complete frenzy of din. They went on to play amazing versions of other songs like cause = time that pushed the edge of the song and melded it into something new. Superconnected was another spectacle to behold. The stage felt as if it was one unit. Devoted to rockin' your brain for three hours.

There wasn't a song that played that didn't send vibes through my head. The band was integrating with the audience and making them seem like friends of theirs. I've never seen so much interaction with a crowd than at this concert. The venue was perfect, The Vogue. The music was amazing. It was a really powerful and playful show. My favorite show of the year so far.

A lot of music has been making it's way to my computer lately. One album (which I bought at Fnac in France and was really overpriced) is the self titled album from Feu Thérèse. They are a French Canadian outfit on the same label as Godspeed You Black Emperor. The first track, Ferrari En Feu (Ferrari On Fire), starts with three minutes of what sounds like a psychedelic version of Pole Position. Then it breaks into a coherent song which isn't too bad. It's got a kind of cheezy organ playing and drums and then a semi distorted guitar comes in and some other instruments follow. Interesting track but not the strongest on the album. The second track has a much dreamier quality to it. There is a whispering kind of sound in the background and some nice guitar sounds. Very strange album indeed.

I also got that Gnarls Barkley album which continues Cee-lo's trend of good music. That guy has such an incredible voice. Just makes you want to listen for ages. Let's see, I also acquired two Tunng albums which are pretty decent. If you like The Books then you'll like Tunng. The song Engine Room off of Comments of the Inner Chorus is probably my favorite. The vocals are haunting and the background music complements the voice very nicely.

I grabbed The Coup's (the coop if you are Black Thought) new album and was a bit disappointed. I think it's one of those albums that I will really appreciate later because I was expecting something completely different. It's always nice for an artist to slap you up side the head with something you weren't expecting. But I just haven't been diggin' this new material. My Favorite Mutiny is the first cut I heard before purchasing the album and in my opinion none of the other tracks live up to the voracity of that track.

While surfing the web I wandered upon a bunch of free downloads of old out of print stuff. One of the albums was Henri Texier's Varech. It's a pretty decent jazz album and Henri did all the instrumentation on it. Another French album I procured was Roçé - Identité en crescendo. I had to have Lucie buy it for me from the French iTunes store. It's a really chill hip-hop album. The whole album is backed by some really nice jazz. I have no idea what he's rapping about but it sounds good to me.

Lucie and I went in to Paris on the 21st for La Fête de la Musique. Our first stop before catching any music was Versailles. Unfortunately the place was undergoing a bit of maintenance as stated on the back of the Orientation Guide:

The public Establishment of Versailles has embarked upon extensive estoration works in the Palace and the gardens with the aim of both heritage conservation and enhancing the welcome accorded to visitors.

We apologise to visitors for any inconvenience that these works may cause.

Ok, apology accepted. As you walked in you could see the massive amount of work going on. The whole Royal Courtyard was torn up and it looked like they were doing some archaeological surveying. The outer facade was getting a face lift and the gardens were getting a hair cut. None of the fountains on the grounds were turned on which was a bit of a bummer. Inside the palace the hall of mirrors was being restored. We got to see half of it as the other half was still sealed up. That was the only work being done inside that we saw.

Next stop, Montparnasse and La Fete de la Musique. A day in France and some other european nations where there is music everywhere. In the streets, restaurants, metros and monuments. The biggest event was at La Grand Arche where a bunch of lame pop groups performed. We walked from Montparnasse to the Eiffel Tower and then to a bar nearby to watch the festivities at La Grand Arche. I think the US should participate in La Fête de la Musique too. Maybe we'll start in Fortville and work our way to the coasts!

On Thursday we went to the Louvre. We saw a lot of really cool sculptures, artifacts and paintings. This completed my viewing of the 'Axe Historique'; La Grand Arche de la Defense, L'Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde and Le Louvre. It's really cool inside the glass pyramid (Napoleon Hall) where all the entrances are to the exhibits. There are some really nice looking exhibit areas too. We didn't see everything but we saw most of the important stuff. We'll have to go back and catch all the stuff we missed some other time.

there are some incredible songs on this album. there are also some really hilarious songs on it too. like the cover of robert palmer. overall very enjoyable.

I got a couple stickers in my most recent threadless purchase as per usual. But this time there was a new sticker inside. It was for a webite called Extra Tasty. It's a pretty cool idea. You sign up and head over to your bar. Stock it up with some goods. I added whiskey, vodka, kahlua, guinness, bailey's, orange juice, pineapple juice and a few other things. Then it tells you how many drink recipes can be created with your bar. If you don't see one of your favorites or you've created something of your own you can submit a drink recipe.

The site is still in live development so it may have a few bugs here and there. Now it's time to drink!

don't tell me how to live. why does everyone have to scape goat the smokers in this country. what about the fatties? how about firing people for being really fat instead of being a smoker. i'm sure the health risks are similar. what about the alcoholics? that can't be healthy either. i finally quit smoking again but i just don't understand the hatred towards people who smoke.