Yeah, if you recognize that title, then you must have grown up with Dr. Seuss! (I was a fan ever since I could pronounce sentences together)

Out of all of the books that he wrote, my favorite thus far has been “Oh The Places You’ll Go!,” mainly due to its emphasis on exploring the unknown world around you (despite the bumps).

In fact, I just bought it from the app store right now, although for the uninitiated here is it via YouTube (thanks to some brazen user, although you should buy the book).

Anyways the  reason I am writing this is because too often in my life I’ve seen so many people give up their dreams and exploring the world around them due to past disappointments, finances or some immovable obstacle.

Too many people are merely satisfied with only living out their lives day by day instead of striving what is best for them, their family, their ________ (fill in the blank folks!).

It is my firm belief that every child born is assigned a destiny by the Almighty, and the passions within the heart are hints (or indicators) of what your destiny is.

You should never stop short of pursuing that, and should strive towards that goal everyday in every way you can.

While you’ll encounter disappointment along the way (we all do), you should view obstacles as lessons instead of barriers.

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite quotes:

“And if you keep your vision clear you will see the future. What happens in our future is our own responsibility.” ~Rem Saverem

So stop the pity party friends! The future has yet to be written, and regardless of what lies ahead you can succeed–if you really want it.

(Image and Video Credit: Dr. Seuss)

Read More

Apparently HostMonster went down and took out all of my sites with it (Colony Worlds, IsraGood, Darnell (Concise Opinions) and a dozen others).

Lets just say for the record I was VERY UNHAPPY over the lack of communication regarding the unscheduled downtime, as the company didn’t notify anyone via email or twitter (yes, @HostMonster does have a twitter account, although they have yet to use it).

After hearing rumors of a DDoS attack, HostMonster was able to clarify that they were instead upgrading their site with new hardware (and scanning files for bad data).

During the outage, I was talking to Media Temple on Twitter (@MediaTemple), as well as Rack Space (via chat) in my quest for a new host.

My plan was to simply import my blog from the VaultPress archives and export it into Media Temple. Their service starts at $20/month for 100 GB and 1 terrabyte transfer (which is expensive but you get what you pay for).

Fortunately cooler minds prevailed, HostMonster apologized and my sites are (currently) back online.

However this whole episode has inspired me to transfer my domains from HostMonster to GoDaddy sooner (I was planning to anyways in order to avoid violating the 3 laws of domains).

I still have a few technical details before the process begins, but either way I will probably be exporting most of my sites upon Media Temple by the end of this year (I’d do it sooner, but I have to increase my geek budget as VaultPress isn’t cheap!).

Read More

By now everyone has probably heard about the Verizon iPhone allegedly coming in January (if you haven’t then you’re not a real geek).

Many of my friends are planning on ditching Ma Bell for the red V after suffering many years of horrible signal (at least the urban warriors).

Not even the ETF (aka Early Termination Fee) is enough to scare them away (despite the expense).

So why is this iGeek refusing to leave despite the fact that my ETF is much lower?

Because if I switch to Verizon I will:

• Lose the ability to simultaneously place a call while reading an email attachment, Google Maps, etc.
• Lose roll over minuets which allow me to use the basic call plan without having to pay for unlimited minuets every month
• A faster 3G speed. Verizon’s is much more stable, however it’s very slow when compared to AT&T’s (it reminds me of EDGE sometimes).
• A global phone. Verizon uses CDMA which is as useful as an Old English yard stick in Europe, Asia, etc. (GSM is the “metric” system of the world

While I would love to see a Verizon iPhone (mainly so my siblings & cousins would finally join), I will refrain from joining the masses and defecting towards the red V (the other V for you scifi freaks!).

Oh, and there is one more reason why I wouldn’t leave AT&T:

Once the masses crash Verizon’s network, AT&T will be the party scene as their network will no longer be clogged by data hungry users.

Read More

Note: See update below! (original stat tracked down)

I first came across this “fact” from TechCrunch, and after Googling around the interwebs (apologies to @MattCutts) I finally discovered what appears to be the source of this oft cited statistic.

Some other numbers mentioned by Matt are 150 code committers with 1400 on Trac helping out. 21m downloads of WordPress in 2009 with 70m plugin and themes off wordpress.org, with 35 billion pageviews on wordpress.com and .org + 8.5% of the web is running on WordPress. (WordCamp New Zealand)

Note: Emphasis mine

Truthfully I have serious doubts that this stat is even accurate considering:

1. Google discovered over one trillion unique URL’s on the web two years ago (and they are still finding more content)
2. WordPress has yet to build a search engine to index the web
3. I haven’t seen any official sources (like ICANN who also sports WordPress on their blog) verify this claim
4. No search engine company that I know of has verified this claim, although truth be told I would only trust Google due to their domination of the search market.

Truthfully I think WordPress powers a large portion of the web (my guestimate is around %5 on the high end) but then again even I don’t have any data to verify if WordPress powers more than 1% of the web, let alone 8.5% that is spouted as fact.

So for now, I’m going to put this in the “pseudofact” file and disregard the stat entirely until someone wiser than I can find an official source (and not simply quote hearsay).

(Image Credit: Norebbo)

Update: Raanan from Automattic (creators of WordPress for you non-geeks) informs me that the stat originally came from a Drupal presentation who were comparing the top million sites (of which 8.5% were powered by WordPress compared to Drupal’s ~1%).

Thanks Raanan!

Read More

The White House finally has some good news to report regarding the oil spill, and despite their previous “do nothing” approach (which was infuriating to say the least) it looks like the gulf of Mexico may return back to normal within my lifetime.

Today, a panel of government scientists released a report which said that the vast majority of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed much of which is in the process of being degraded. A significant amount of this is the direct result of the federal government’s aggressive response to the spill. [...]

These interagency findings were generated using a scientific tool called the Oil Budget Calculator, which employs a combination of direct measurements and the best scientific estimates available. The calculator is based on 4.9 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf, the government’s latest estimates of the flow rate from Monday. More than 25 of the best government and independent scientists contributed to or reviewed the calculator and its calculation methods. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), as well as academic scientists are continuing to work to refine these calculations. (Official White House Blog)

Although there still is a large amount of oil in the gulf (as you “lying eyes” will inform you), the fact that nature is dissolving the oil in spite of our pathetic attempts (or rather lack their of) gives me hope for friends and families in the gulf.

I probably still won’t eat any shrimp, fish, lobster (which I acquired a taste of) or seafood from the gulf for a few years/decades (depending on how fast BP and Obama clean up the gulf), although I do appreciate the fact that this whole fiasco is coming to an end.

Read More

As much as I love my iPhone 3GS (which I bought last year), I’m going to do something completely insane: I’m going to give away my iPhone 3GS instead of selling it.

I actually did ponder selling the iPhone 3GS, along with a battery extender from FastMac (which includes a built in flash light) which together are probably valued at $200 (I paid $300 plus for both items).

Apple is currently selling 8 gig iPhone 3GS’s for $100, although the one I have is 16 gig (double the storage baby!).

So why am I giving it away? Because I can, and (more importantly) I think it will be a great opportunity to introduce someone to the iCult.

So who am I giving the iPhone 3GS away to? Lets just say that their is a short list, but everyone on it has NEVER owned a smart phone before, so this will be a great opportunity for them to experience iBliss.

Since I won’t reveal who is receiving this gift until my iPhone 4 is activated (which I have to purchase near full price since I do not qualify for AT&T’s subsidy), it will be a few weeks until the person is revealed.

Either way, I hope they enjoy using the iPhone as much as I did (especially since they could REALLY use some of  the apps to help organize and improve their life), although hopefully they’ll keep it out of the hands of kids (as its fragile!!).

Read More

So earlier today I wrote a post upon The Blog Herald regarding VaultPress (a service by Automattic/WordPress that securely backs up your entire blog) that was at best speculative and at worst slanderous.

In his wisdom my Editor (that would be Franky) pulled the article offline, although unfortunately other sites have picked up my sloppy article which is currently tarnishing VaultPress’s good name.

I personally owe a lot to the folks at Automattic, whose software & services have turned blogging from what use to be a chore to an enjoyable experience.

In fact just today Isaac from Intense Debate (a service that is literally saving my skin from human spammers) went out of his way to create a fix for my micro blog so that I could continue to enjoy using the p2 Theme by Automattic.

Since it was my big mouth that created this whole farce, I’m going to be spending the rest of tonight contacting bloggers/journalist who republished my sad piece of journalism in order to clear VaultPress’s name.

If anyone runs across any reprints please email me a link at darnell.clayton@gmail.com so I can resolve my lapse of judgement. Thanks!

Note: Apologies to Matt, Paul and the entire Automattic crew.

Read More