Author Archives: Dwayne

Productions plugin: Two steps forward, one step back

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I’ve made a lot of progress on my plugin. All of the content can be created and edited directly within the plugin. Site administrators can add and edit seasons, venues, and plays. They even have the ability to update cast lists, production and audition dates, and upload publicity photos. The only things left to do were to enable the ability to delete some of those items when needed, and then make the code more “generic” so it would work on another server, instead of only on my specific server.

Or so I thought.

Unfortunately, a user doing a perfectly reasonable thing pointed out a big hole. Somebody posted a comment on a page for a specific show. Unfortunately, the way WordPress manages comments, those comments would appear on EVERY show’s page. So now I have to see if I can figure out a way to tie comments to specific shows. Until then, I’ve disabled comments on the show page, as I think it would cause more confusion than it’s worth.

I also want to see if I can tie into the WordPress search system, so that, when somebody does a search, it will check all of the plays in the database, and not just the “normal” posts.

A programmer’s work is never done. *sigh*

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Productions plugin updated

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Time for another updated on my WordPress theater productions plugin.

I’ve now got it to the point where it can work with either PostgreSQL (which the original application was coded with) OR the MySQL database that runs the WordPress installation. I happen to prefer PostgreSQL, which is of course why I wrote the original app that way in the first place. However, running against MySQL has the distinct advantage of being much easier for a non-technical person to set up on a new blog.

I now have the ability to switch back and forth between the two database schemas, as well as being able to export the data, and then import it. That way I can move all of the data between the databases.

It’s not ready for prime time yet. I still don’t have any method inside the plugin for managing the data. That comes next. Once that’s done, I’ll have a plugin that I think might be of use to other theaters.

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MinnPost – Braublog: Presbyterian Laymen ad rejected

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MinnPost – Braublog: Unlike other big-city papers, Star Tribune rejects Presbyterian group’s anti-gay-ordination ad.

(HT: Tony Jones)

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I strongly disagree with the stand of the Presbyterian Lay Committee on this issue, and I don’t like them taking out all of these ads. On the other hand, I don’t like the idea of censorship, even if it’s of a position I disagree with.

The Lay Committee has spent a LOT of money running these ads. I understand that they feel they are being called to speak out on an issue they feel is of vital importance. I know Carmen Fowler LaBerge, and, while I don’t agree with some of her theology, I DO know her to be a person of faith who does what she does out of a strong sense of conviction. I just wish that the resources that have gone into this ad campaign would have been used instead to work toward unity, instead of divisiveness.

The ad:

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My first WordPress plugin

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I’ve been using WordPress for handling my (dormant) blog for a while now. I’ve also been hosting the website for Baytown Little Theater, but the content was managed using just HTML. I had a database of productions that was visible on the site, but it was all handled with custom PHP code and. PostgreSQL.

Well, now that I’m moving away, I figured I’d better make it easier for somebody else to manage the content. So the site is now being managed by WordPress. But that doesn’t help with the productions database. So I’ve started working on my first plugin.

The plugin allows content authors to create pages and/or posts which reference the data in the productions database. There’s even logic to allow for looping, displaying things like cast lists and productions in a season.

Right now the plugin still uses the PostgreSQL database, but I have plans for converting it over to MySQL so that it can be shares with the WP database. I also need to migrate the management portion, so that the contents of the database can be updated from within the WP admin interface.

As soon as the code is in a state that I think somebody other than me could use it, I’ll publish it here. At that point, any theater that uses WordPress would be able to use the plugin to manage their own seasons on their site. It also has an integration with the Tickets to the city ticketing system

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We’re moving!

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I know it’s been a long time since I updated this thing. Maybe I need to try to make this a discipline to update more regularly.

Anyway, the reason for this post …

We’re moving to New Jersey!

Wendy has accepted a call to be the new Regional Presbyter for the Presbyteries of Monmouth and New Brunswick, in central New Jersey. The formal vote making it all “final and official” will be July 20th. We plan on moving out some time around Labor Day weekend.

This will be very exciting. We’re going to be sad to leave all of our Texas friends, but it will be nice to be back in the north east again, which is, after all, “home” for both of us.

Now we just need to sell our house. Anyone interested?

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The dangers of high fructose corn syrup

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A recent Princeton University study (HT: Slashdot) would seem to debunk the recent ad campaigns by the corn industry that HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is just the same thing as sugar, only repackaged. This study showed that rats, given the same amount of calories, became significantly more obese when those calories came from HFCS rather than from sucrose (table sugar).

I can’t remember where I saw it now, but I remember watching a documentary piece which attempted to show just the opposite – that HFCS is virtually identical to sucrose. They did this by showing that the levels of fructose and glucose in the two substances are virtually the same, and that, therefore, they must act the same in our bodies. However, almost in the same breath, they added that HFCS behaved differently in the consistency of the product produced, making more appealing to food manufacturers. I remember thinking at the time that they can’t have it both ways — either it’s the same as sugar, or it’s not.

This study seems to make it clear: it’s not. Wendy and I are making a concerted effort to avoid HFCS whenever possible, but that’ surprisingly difficult.

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The Lost Tribe

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This weekend, Wendy and I are at the annual TNT conference, held this year in Beaumont. As a part of this festival, our theater put on an excerpt from one of the winning entries for the play writing contest, since we’ll be putting on the full show some time in the next year. The play is called “The Lost Tribe” by Jeff Stolzer. It’s about an older Jewish couple in a rapidly gentrifying area of L.A., who are dealing with the changes in their neighborhood, as well as their own past.

In this excerpt, I played Isaac, a retired barber who is helping out in the main character’s barber shop.

Well, in this excerpt, I’ve reached a new milestone in my acting career. I had to drop my pants! And not just my pants, if you get my meaning.

My mother will be so proud. ;)

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I’m intrigued by the Coffee Party

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Yesterday, Facebook suggested that I might be interested in becoming a fan of the coffee party. So I checked it out. The name is an obvious reference and counter to the TEA party movement, which is a movement I definitely don’t support.

The Coffee Party’s objective seems to be to be, at least in part, to show that, even in diversity, we can have agreement. They’re certainly NOT looking to form together as a bunch of same-thinking, brainwashed automatons, which I think is characteristic of some of the criticism that’s been launched against them, but are instead encouraging lively but respectful discussion. The item I liked the most from their site is the Civility Pledge, which I was happy to “sign”:

As a member or supporter of the Coffee Party, I pledge to conduct myself in a way that is civil, honest, and respectful toward people with whom I disagree. I value people from different cultures, I value people with different ideas, and I value and cherish the democratic process.

I don’t expect that the Coffee Party is going to become a political party in the sense that the Democratic and Republican parties are, and that I think the TEA Party wants to be. Rather, they’re speaking on against the bickering senseless posturing that’s characterized US politics recently, from both sides of the aisle. And that’s a position I can heartily agree with.

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