Well, my taxes are filed. Thank goodness Al Gore invented the internet. Had he not done so I would have had to resort to using icky things like pens and stamps. The horror!
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I'm trying to figure out where to go with the headspace next. It's not what I want it to be. What it IS is a long, gross perl script and a big database. What I'd like to turn it in to is something that merges the headspace as you see it now and the abortion that is the blogs in a single, more useful, tool.
Here's my problem: I can't figure out to put together a usable template-driven interface. I'd like for you, the user, to be able to browse over, log in, click on a link, fill out a form, an have your very own headspace. In fact, I'd like to give you more than what I have now. Right now I have a directory full of pseudo-html templates. I'd like to give you the ability to roll up whatever kind of database-driven website you'd like... All in the comfort of your own browser.
Ironically, I'm struggling with the exact same problem in my portal project at work. It all boils down to figuring out how to distribute responsibility for content to people, groups of people, or specific roles. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, but damn, the tools presently available for this sort of thing are not so hot.
I'm beginning to suspect that it's a much larger project than I initially suspected. That makes one inclined to want to do it right the first time. Part of doing it right is picking the right language/platform. My current cudgel of choice for web destruction is perl, obviously. I'd like to move to something a little higher-order. I'm leaning towards Java servlets. My other choice is C++ *cringe*.
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Have any of you seen Requiem for a Dream? I saw it when it was in theatres and then watched parts of it here at home. What a brilliant film. It's absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous... and crushingly depressing. The four principle actors in the film give career- defining perfomances, in my opinion. If you haven't seen it, see it. You'll be glad you did after you stop shuddering. Of course, Pi had much the same effect.
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I'm feeling much better today. I guess I'l just have to chalk yesterday up to lack of sleep or something. I go through these moods.
Remember one thing: You are NOT required to be productive in your own life. This is a problem for me.
You are NOT your fucking khakis... which is a damned good thing for me... seeing as how I don't own any, really.
Due to my own stupidity I'm having to re-rip a lot of my CDs. For this task I'm using a program creatively named "Exact Audio copy". Using this particular tool is always an interesting experience. It gives you a real feeling for exactly how tolerant we are to error. It finds relatively large amounts of errors (usually due to scratches, thumbprints, etc.) on CDs that, to my ear at least, play wonderfully. CDs that are actually audibly damaged are a major PitA to rip with EAC.
I have mixed feelings about php. It does some things better than perl. It's kind of a tossup in my mind. Php has less overhead and the vaguest notion of OO in its favor. Perl has brilliant text handling and ease of use.
The headspace code started out as a quick hack to get my static journal entries in to a db to make then easier to manage. It grew from there, unfortunately. I should have rewritten it. It's nasty.
In the end I'm just doing the whole thing for my gratification. I write the code because it's fun and interesting and I write the entries because I need to vent and I genuinely enjoy hearing myself talk. :P
Nah, I don't mean to imply php sucks. I think it's really good for a lot of things. It certainly works well for your site.
ROFL That would be too funny. I'll have to work on that.
OSX is Unix. Use VI. :)
Modern keyboards have the control key in the wrong place for emacs... :P
Have you checked out TWiki for your user space creation needs? It's a strange orgy of perl, rcs, and magic. It my be a bit of overkill for what you'd like, but it's open source and extensible. If you'd like a look, check out www.twiki.org. We use it at work to much success.