I’m committed to WordPress for a number of reasons, so it will have to be one of my tasks to improve the sign-up process, if I can. Everything else about WordPress is easily customizable, so I can’t imagine that there won’t be some way I can make the user experience better. All I need is a little time (and some extra energy)!

I tried just now to visit my account page to look around to see if I missed an obvious link to skyfey.com or pehaps the blog — but I can’t see any way from here to get to a “my account” page.

These are some of the reasons I love textpattern. (Elegance and beauty are some others.)

Heh - yes, I did mean “blognote.” But “bognote” may be more representative of the current state of my thinkery. ;-)

The annoyance you may be experiencing may not be a flaw in the development of WordPress; it’s more likely to be an oversight in my implementation of it. (Did the profile page to which you were taken after signing up for an account not even have a hotspot on the “SkyFey | The Blog” title at the top of the page? Granted, that would not be as obvious as it should be, but at least it would be a start.)

I will look into the issues you raise. Thanks for pointing them out!

BTW WordPress sure is odd when you sign up for an account in order to post a comment. When you first log in it takes you to your profile page. Fair enough. But there is no link that I saw to the blog itself! The only other obvious nav is labeled “Dashboard” so I tried that. It takes me to the WP admin panel for the blog! But with zero privileges to change anything (which is a good thing), but no indication of my impoverished priv status until I click on each link and get told “no-no.”

“The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) of the bees may be a ‘canary in the coal mine’ symptom that something is happening to the earth’s magnetic polarity. Whilst some scientists believe that the bees find their way back to the hive by following polarised lines of light in the sky, others argue that they have magnetic homing devices which allow them to return to their hives. (See Magnetic Bees). The bees’ failure to return to their beehives may have less to do with ‘abandonment’ or ‘disease’ and more to do with ‘getting lost’.”

And there’s this, from Whales, Dolphins, and Sound”:

“Government scientists and the general public are concerned about the effects of noise on whales and dolphins. The Australian Government is aware about public concern that sound in the marine environment may affect whales and dolphins. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is currently reviewing the guidelines aimed at avoiding or minimising impacts from seismic activity on whales, and the Department of Defence has adopted similar protocols aimed at avoiding or minimising impacts from active sonar on whales and dolphins.”

(Note: “Sonar” is the acronym for SOund NAvigation and Ranging.)

There’s also this, from U.S. Navy Sonar May Harm Killer Whales, Expert Says”, a 2004 National Geographic article that extensively quotes Puget Sound marine biologist Ken Balcomb:

“One day last May [2003], Balcomb and whale-watchers along the coast observed something they had never seen before. ‘I first heard reports from whale-watchers that orcas where behaving very unusually,’ Balcomb recalled. ‘One pod had gathered in a tight group and were moving close to shore.’

“Balcomb confirmed at the time that strange underwater pinging noises detected with underwater microphones were sonar. The sound originated from a U.S. Navy frigate 12 miles (19 kilometers) distant, Balcomb said. The vessel eventually moved within 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of Puget Sound.

“The marine biologist recalled that one pod of orcas appeared agitated and were moving haphazardly, attempting to lift their heads free of the water. ‘It’s like they where searching for some way out of the sound field,’ Balcomb said.

“Dall’s porpoises (Phocoenoides dalli) and a minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) were also seen rapidly moving away from the vessel. In the following weeks an above-average number of seemingly healthy porpoises were found stranded on nearby beaches, according to Balcomb.

“Balcomb says he’s convinced that the U.S. Navy ships played a role in the destruction. The research biologist is not alone. In recent years whale beachings in the Bahamas, Madeira island, and the Canary Islands have been linked to U.S. Navy sonar exercises.”

Are any of these articles conclusive? Hardly. But these, and other articles like them, are compelling in the aggregate. In my opinion (and it is MY blog, after all!) this issue bears watching.

Now I spoze if they ever create a headset with (a mic and) TWO earpieces, they’d have to call that “headphoneS” — but the chances of that are slim because the only reason that headsets are still legal is that they leave one ear free to hear the roadaphones. QED, n’est-ce-pas? :)

Now if I am against torturing people, then by the same token I should be against torturing LANGUAGE, so I’m way sorry about all of this and I would ask you to fuggedabowdit.

PS — love that “hot water heater” notion. And may I add a couple of physical peeves of my own — (A) how movie costumers think that clear (flat, unprescription and by definition INEFFECTIVE) glasses that reflect uniformly across their entire surfaces are not noticeable as such, and (B) how movie directors seem to insist that people drive at night with bright lights shining up from the dashboard right on their faces so as to make it easier to watch them emote (presumably, as they drive into road hazards obscured by the lights. “AAAaaaah, didn’t you see that the bridge was out?” “No, how was I spozed to see it with (gesturing) these 7,398 lumens shining into my eyes, but don’t my teeth look pearly-white as we plummet to our deaths?”).

And the Talmudic excerpt is wonderfully apt. I will think upon it when I feel my equanimity failing. Thanks, DrDan!

MMmmmm. Fresh tomatoes! Nuthin’ like ‘em. We used to grow veggies, and one of our fondest family memories is those languorous summer evenings when my wife & I would happily pop fresh-picked cherry tomatoes into our daughters’ mouths as they swung back & forth on our backyard swings… Hope you amassed enough pennies to plant for this summer!

Not that I denigrate planting for the coming season — MMmmmm, not at all! But your story put me in mind of this other, whose time-constant is much longer…

[Found on and adapted from the web]:
… The Talmud tells of an old man planting a fig tree. Asked if he really thought he’d live to eat its fruits, he replied: “I was born into a flourishing world. My ancestors planted for me, and I now I plant for my descendants…”

The act of planting is an act of faith. To bury a seed with no way of tracking its progress demands equanimity of spirit and deep-rooted trust in God…. :)

But Yes, whatever-it-is, it must be server-based—else how would I be able to present my finger/eyeball/whatever to a sensor pad anywhere to gain access?

And yes, universality could be Hard: That’s one of the many reasons this is still on my wish list. Fingerprints can be forged in too many ways; retinas are better but (currently) present their own difficulties. A memorized token in a scheme such as you describe would probably be a better approach (but ohhhh the pain of memorizing a random letters-and-numerals token that would be long enough to allow one unique token for every human everywhere, now and into the foreseeable future—and to allow the assignment of newly-generated tokens whenever individuals’ tokens are stolen or hacked). And does that start sounding scarily like a global Citizen ID?

A technology like Clickshare’s is what would make access easy for online consumers: You would type in your token once (let’s say, at the beginning of a multi-store shopping spree, or a flamewar across several secure sites), and any online organization that subscribes to Clickshare would then automagically and securely approve your access. That’s the piece that any number of techno-companies would scramble to patent and make The Standard theirownselves, and that consumer-facing organizations would (eventually) scramble to subscribe to.

Still wishin’!