Archive for September, 2006
For ages now I’ve had a section in the sidebar of single-post pages that lists some other (possibly) related posts. The problem is with the ‘possibly’ — the suggestions just haven’t been very good.
I’ve been using Related Posts (2.02) by Alexander Malov & Mike Lu. It takes the words from the title of the current post and matches them against the text and title of all your other posts. If I were better at naming my posts it could work much convincingly … but I’m not and never will be.
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September 30th, 2006
If you like animated maps of great swathes of history take a look at what’s been going on in the Middle East for the last 5000 years.
September 28th, 2006
In my recent move I transferred the contents of this blog by using the WordPress XML Import/Export plugin developed by Aaron Brazell (from code by Matt Mullenweg that is being developed for WP 2.1). It basically did the trick as you can see from this working blog however there is a snag. Although it produces a working site it does not preserve all of the post slugs as it imports them. You get working posts but not necessarily with the same permalinks!
I noticed this because all requests to my old blog are being redirected to the new one and some of them are now appear to be missing. They are not but their ‘perma’-links have changed. It has been a problem for maybe 18 posts out of 440.
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September 27th, 2006
If you ever have cause to move a WordPress blog from one domain to another you will want visitors to any pages on the old site to be silently redirected to the corresponding page on the new site. This goes particularly for Googlebot and other search engine spiders: you want them to be able to find your new site and update their databases so you don’t lose your ranking.
Moving Your Blog is a simple WordPress plugin that redirects all your posts and pages (status 301, permanently moved). The Admin pages are exempt so you can still administer the old blog. (more…)
September 23rd, 2006
Well the plugin I put together to handle redirection from the old site to the new was working great until I thought “let’s tidy it up and make it presentable”. So I had to spend a couiple of hours messing everything up. I hope normal service has now been resumed! If it has I’ll post the WordPress plugin tomorrow.
September 23rd, 2006
Well this is my old blog in a new location. If you visit the old location you should automatically be sent here … at least for a month or so until I close the old one down. Please update your bookmarks if you have any.
This post is also a test to see what happens to the site’s feeds.
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September 22nd, 2006
Readings: 1 Cor 7:25-31; Lk 6:20-26
Setting his misogyny aside, I do love Paul’s urgency and absolute conviction that everything has changed. Everything is different after the death and resurrection of Jesus, with a difference that has diverted human—and even cosmic history—in a new direction. And in that new direction all the old rules cease to apply, all our customs and cultures are flimsy and fading. Kinship and consumerism, marriage and mirth—every bond and tie is loosened by the call of the coming kingdom.
I love that urgency—but of course I can’t feel it—even the greatest head of steam fizzles away over 2000 years. The world as we know it hasn’t passed away and we’ve all gone back to owning and operating with a certain relief.
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September 13th, 2006
Until now this blog has been living at http://rmarsh.com/ but with a web redirect from my ‘real’ domain http://rmarsh.com/. Unfortunately I’ve been having problems with my domain registrar’s email forwarding and have decided to make a move. This is where the trouble begins!
My blog will continue to be accessible from http://rmarsh.com/ but will shortly cease to be available via http://rmarsh.com. Now, of course I’m realising that ‘everyone’ out there has linked to the f2s address and not rmarsh.com. So … HELP!
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September 11th, 2006
Readings: Isaiah 35:4-7; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37
It seems likely that that word ephphatha, be opened, was the first thing that man ever heard. That he came to hearing with that as his first word. Wouldn’t it echo in his opened ears for the rest of his life? Wouldn’t that be the word he cherished and held dear and whispered to himself in the middle of the night?
It used to be part of the roman rite of baptism, blowing on the child’s ears and eyes and lips and speaking the word ephphatha. It is the first word of every Christian life: ephphatha, be opened.
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September 10th, 2006
Readings: 1 Cor 3:1-9; Luke 4:38-44
What would it take for us to be weaned? For us to be beyond the milk of spirituality—past the rusks and the stewed apple even—and eating the spiritual food of adults?
Paul is pretty clear that the first thing to go would have to be the jealousy and wrangling and all those spiritual slogans that set us against each other in the church and the churches and make us such a laughing stock in the eyes of the real world. I can’t remember the context but it was Henry Kissinger who said of some situation of fevered hostility and bitter rivalry that it was all because the stakes were so low. And isn’t that how we must look from the outside? Which way should the altar face? What kind of music is allowed in church? What can a minister safely do in the bedroom—and with whom? Do you praise this Pope or the previous or the one before that?
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September 6th, 2006