Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

Sometimes developing anything online can seem boring, but IDUG contest has found a way to put a real kick into producing a short XQuery. Their contest, the XLM Contest, asks entrants to produce an XML rap by simply pointing a camera towards the computer screen while you are working.
Their main terms are that the video refer somehow to XML, XQuery or DB2. The terms are fairly simple and once you are done, upload the video, post about it with an embedded file of your entry and mention the IDUG contest so others might have a chance to enter. Videos can be no longer than 5 minutes, so it is simple for anyone who might be a bit zany enough to document their experience for the contest.

Some helpful pointers is to fit in about the application are things like: security, how unique your item is, how easy your solution is to understand, and above all, how useful it is. The contest is great for students as it could be a stepping stone for future job hunts. So, if you are a developer, try out the contest even if for fun. The prizes given vary, but some of the prizes recently offered were an iPod and a Zune.

I did not know if the script would be listed, but I just got PHPads approved at Hotscripts.com. I am kind of excited as it has only been a few days and the script has been downloaded 36 times! If anyone downloads the script, can you leave a rating (a reasonable one.)

I recently added to the PHPads page the Hotscript rating and also a demo in order to check out the administration panel of the script.

I have been thinking of developing it into a WordPress plug-in. I do know that if I do, the code will have to be developed to be copied and pasted into the theme wherever the user wishes. Right now I am working on some WordPress themes for download as well as updating the others I already offer.

As a further note, I wanted to thank the owner of Your Mother Wears Army Boots and Bikinis for spreading the word of my PHPads script. I will always give props back, especially extra big ones on my site for those who go above and beyond the normal. I recommend visiting as it is chock full of frequent blogs with a variety of subjects including: political events, food, cooking, shopping, bizarre news and websites. I thought the informational blog entry on “An Exercise On Discovering Your Life’s Purpose” as it gives others a way to be able to get through tough times and find out what they want to do in life.

I keep hearing on the local radio stations like WDML 106.9 about the International Star Registery. Now, I have a big question: Does International Star Registry own all the stars we see in the sky, even the ones named hundred and thousands of years ago by ancient astonomers?

ISR has been a company since 1979, but what makes them able to have the right to give others the ability to name stars for a fee? As a side note, I do want to say that there is a way to name a star for free, but you have to fill out a credit application and even make one purchase to receive the name. That is not not free and is considered false advertisement.

Despite the romantic idea of having a star named after me, I think no one should charge to have a star named after them. A star cannot be reached by necessary means. It is like receiving nothing in the end. How can such a company guarantee that no one star is named over several times for several customers. None of the people of the past before this company were charged in naming a star or even a constellation. It is ridiculous and a rip off. The site even says that the company is not recognized by the scientific community!

In their FAQ, which is quite short, they reveal that the do not own the stars and explain that it is an adoption. Well, if it is an adoption, does it not go somewhere like a charitable organization or perhaps for world hunger programs, or something of the sort? Of course there are adopt-a-highway, adopt-a-dolphin, and much more, but those programs go for things like animal conservation and giving back to the community.

Here is a thought, pick a star up, research about it, make and print your own pretty certificate, and then give it to your honey. It would only cost less than a dollar! Save your money and not give it to someone who cons people out of their money thinking that it is okay to charge money to name a star when they have no ownership in the first place.

Related Links:

• Buy A Star, It’s Not Yours
• Name A Star After Somebody: A Scam
• Stellar Idea or Cosmic Scam?

After some time collecting dust, I finally had the time to update PixelledADS. I also decided to change the name to PHPads because most of my work is not at Pixelled.com like it use to be. The problem that I troubleshooted with PixelledADS was that it was not allowing users to log in. This is no longer an issue.

What is PHPads? Well, it is a simple banner management that has an administration panel and a way for the user to monitor stats on a single banner campaign. As the administrator, you log in enter the banners, and then the script will produce the banner rotation code that you can place on your website. It requires no MySQL, but it does require PHP 4 or higher. Installation is easy.

There is a page describing PHPads and a link to be able to download the script. Hopefully with time, I can place more features to this script, but I think that having something basic as this will do wonders. Perhaps I might even create a WordPress plug-in for it in the near future.

Not sure if anyone has come by the site and has seen the 500 Internal Server Error. It was the WordPress, but I am not sure if it is the 2.7 installation or one of the plug-ins. I installed the NextGen Gallery so I could put my pics of my son, myself, and my stock photos. I think I have pinpointed the issue to this particular plugin, but I cannot be certain as of yet. I have been tackling this issue the past few days. It sucked getting online to find out this issue. I may have to go back to the technicians at HostGator to try to tweak my server if this is the case.

I am always looking for new tools to do searches. It is key when making sure my site is listed as I want people to be able to find my site. I came across the Find.com Search Engine. No, it is not google, but it was surprisingly fast and simplistic, probably because it is still developing. The navigation was clean and load time fairly quick. Again, because it is still new and has over 500 articles with the promise of thousands by the end of the new year, I have not seen anything as of yet to deter me. It is always nice to see how a newer search engine goes and I wish Find.com the best of luck!

Because of this, I thought I might try to look up the word ‘blondish.’ Lo and behold, my site actually did come up in the search. I was actually happy to see that, and I even saw links I had not seen before to my site. As I said, Find.com is new, but I would recommend bookmarking it and try to use it like to either: find people, find jobs, or even find friend. You might be surprised on what you find out, and plus having another search engine as a reference tool is always a nice thing to have when you cannot seem to find exactly what you are looking for elsewhere. I put this site in my favorites and definitely will be using it from time to time.

It has been a long time since I have pixelled any images for download here, so I thought I might scrounge some up. I took a look at my current smilies available, and found that I had not made any extra icons for my 15 x 15 round smilies.

Here is a preview of the set.

There are 18 total GIF images within the package. Please visit the emoticon page to download.

I have seen some sites and when I saw this at Olivia’s personal blog site, I had to check out her free webhosting at So-Pink.org. She is offering domain and subdomain. She has requirements like good web skills, be over the age of 13, have good communication with her, and above all, fill out the form. I think it is a good deal and… Olivia, this is a free blog…so no need to pay me for blogging for your free service.