Unsurprising news: WordPress is blocked in China

If anyone was wondering why there haven’t been any of the updates I suggested in the last post, the answer is that I was unable to access WordPress from China and thus was unable to post any updates.

WordPress’s video function still not ideal, but better

At the end of the primaries, I made a video of the results showing the relative time scale over which they occurred and posted it to Flickr. Unfortunately, I could not (or at least I don’t think I could) embed it in my blog, because WordPress.com doesn’t allow for conventional video embeds, and works around this by having custom functions for a set of the most popular flash video sites. I don’t think that Flickr was on the list in June, but I may be mistaken. Anyway, here’s the embedded video, just because I can:

The color code is that Obama is blue, Clinton is red and Edwards is green. I put together the video a while ago, but I believe that I still have the files, so if someone like wu ming, who I know liked having Obama green, Clinton blue, Edwards red, wants me to make such a color swapped version, I can, just leave a comment or email me. I know that this contest finished months ago, so it may not be particularly relevant to anyone right now.

Anyway, the real point of this post was just to embed the video, which I had hoped to embed months ago, on this site. I’ll update my Democratic Primary Maps page shortly

Not an easy past few months for the sane

I have not posted anything here for a while, mainly because I’ve been busy with school and the general intake of information, which has left me little time to spew it back out in a form that has been processed by my mind.  But, that draught is over and I’m going to start posting again starting tonight.

My logo

On a whim, I decided to create a logo for myself and this site. 孟柏民 (pinyin: Mèng Bómín) is my Chinese name, the name of this blog, and the name I use as a commenter elsewhere.

I haven’t decided exactly how I’m going to use it yet, though I’ve made 孟 my avatar here. I’ll probably change the banner image at the top of the blog to something including it and I may put it in the corners of future maps that I make.

New blog template and updated Maps page

I’ve decided to change my blog template so that I can fit 500px wide images in posts, which has allowed me to fit the “medium” size images from Flickr, which is what I use to host my maps.  So, now it is much easier to post the maps, and I’ve updated the maps page.  Hopefully, this summer, I can make this blog a relevant place to keep my maps rather than simply relying on Daily Kos.

Happy Constitution Day

220 years ago, a document now known as the U.S. Constitution was signed that set up the basic system of government that runs our country to this day.  Unfortunately, there have been some in government who as of late, have put personal ideology before the ideals of the nation, but hopefully, the next administration will do better to safeguard our liberties and govern on a more solidly constitutional basis.

The Issue

Yesterday, I was notified by Andrew Puschel of The Issue that my post Why I’m not voting for Kucinich was being featured in their US section.  I was intrigued, as I had never heard of The Issue before and I don’t typically get much traffic.

Well, it turns out that The Issue is a relatively new website, having started in the spring this year.  What the editors of The Issue do is scan through the blogosphere looking for posts that they feel are well written or in their words:

The Issue is a non-partisan blog newspaper that provides a window to an emerging world of diverse and informed opinions. We cull the blogosphere for its wise insights, probing analyses, and diverse perspectives, drawing together a borderless newspaper. By combining the democratization and diversity of new media with the format and editorial standards of traditional news, we hope to offer a hybrid news source that provides the best of both worlds.

A quick scan of some of the articles does show that they do pick pretty good quality articles and I like how they come up with an Issue of the Day to delve into different viewpoints on important topics.  It’s great to see sites that are willing to put in the effort to aggregate a well-balanced collection of quality blog articles on current issues.

My first 30 days on WordPress

Today is my thirtieth day of having a blog on WordPress.  This is not significant beyond the fact that WordPress provides statistics relating to blog traffic, with the number of visits (excluding those made by you while logged into WordPress) shown for the past 30 days, so I thought I use this post to share some of the statistics relating to this blog.  Here is what my site visits chart looked like as of 11:45 CST this morning (so the stats for today aren’t complete:

I think it’s a good start for an unknown college blogger.  Of course, the most notable part of this is the peak on July 22, which corresponds to my review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I posted to digg, noting that there were spoilers.  This post was by far my most popular, pulling 382 views total, and 174 its first day, enough to get it spot 61 on WordPress’s list of 100 most popular posts for the day.  More after the break for those so inclined.

Waiting at Barnes and Noble

So, I went out and bought the last Harry Potter book tonight. I haven’t opened it yet, but I assure you, once this blog entry is posted my nose will be in the book. I got it from Barnes and Noble in Appleton. I got there at 23:45 (11:45 pm) to see a full parking lot. So, I parked in an empty one across the street, hoping to avoid the crowd rushing out of the parking lot once I had gotten the book. This proved to be unnecessary. The wait for the book took me until 0:50, and by then the parking lot was not so crowded. When I first arrived, there was of course a line:

But what you see in this blurry photo is not a line for the book, but simply a line to get yellow wristbands to certify that the bearer had indeed reserved a copy. There were also blue wristbands for those who wanted one but had not reserved one. As I waited in line, midnight came and there were cheers heard and the first customer came out triumphantly to flaunt his book. This was the best picture I could get of him:

Of course, one of the first things he did after raising it in the air and taking a picture with his mother was to open the book to the back in order to spoil the ending for himself. After a while, I finally got my wristband and went into the store:

Barnes and Noble did not do a good job organizing the mass purchase. When I went in, it was not clear where to go. They had set up a path for the line to follow, but if one didn’t know where the end of the line was, this was pretty pointless. I settled in to part of the mass that I figured represented a nebulous end of the line. Here is what it looked like from this vantage:

This part of the crowd didn’t start moving for about twenty minutes, though we got some glimpses of others moving. The line was a zigzag through the bookshelves, which of course allowed convenient access to books that the store would actually be making money on. For members (which includes me), the store had docked the list price to $18.89, which is $19.83 after tax. For non-member, the price was $20.99 or %22.04 after tax. This was advertised by a large sign above the checkout counter:

The books were taken from the boxes and pre-bagged at the checkout counter. Here is a picture I got of some of the empty boxes:

In the end I walked out with my book and drove home. I will now begin to read it and once I finish, I will post a review on this site.

The day before the last Harry Potter book hits the market.

Today is that day.  Tonight at midnight, bookstores will begin selling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final Harry Potter book.  I will be at the Appleton Barnes and Noble at midnight getting my copy of the book.  Afterward, I will post a blog entry about the event with some pictures.  When I finish the book, I’ll write a review.  My review will have two parts, one brief one about my overall opinions but no spoilers and then of course, one with spoilers that goes into more detail.