Blog Maintenance

Finally a post that isn’t about my leg!

If you are a true geek you’ll find yourself running your own blog. I don’t mean signing up on wordpress or blogger, but downloading the software and installing it on your own server, or ISP-hosted server space. That’s what I have always done. With that approach you are then into the fun-and-games of backing up the database and updating the software. I use the wordpress software and originally for every upgrade I had to download the files unzip them then manually FTP them to my ISP, then, due to the unique permsissions on used by my ISP’s servers I had to telnet on and run chmode 755 to enable the blog to actually work. Then someone extended wordpress with a plugin that allowed you to upgrade automatically. It does all the relevant backing up of the database and other files, all the downloading and unzipping of the new files. But I still have to go and run the old chmode command. Keeps me in touch with my roots.

I took the opportunity of upgrading to WordPress 2.9 to add another widget to my sidebar. This plays a music track hosted at http://www.jamendo.com/. I first heard the track (“Lovely” by Tryad) when someone I follow on twitter (@stewyphoto) posted a link to a video created by a friend of his, of a drive from Ambleside to Grassmere in the Lake District in the recent heavy snow, a route I know well.

So I followed up on the soundtrack, found www.tryad.org and found their music hosted at http://www.jamendo.com/. The music at Jamendo all seems to be Creative commons Copyright which means that “You can copy, distribute, advertise and play this album as long as you: *Give credit to the artist *Distribute all derivative works under the same license”. So basically free music! Now I’m not sure this is a business model Simon Cowell would be keen to pursue. Tryad themselves turn out to be a “virtual band” who work collaborate on their tracks via the internet.

And while I’m promoting talented Lake District artists have a look at this production from Aqueous Films, of one man unicycling down the third highest mountain in England. You may want to kill the music in the widget befor playing this!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8169985&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

One Hell of a Day from Aqueous Films on Vimeo.