be the change you want to see in the world

Playing with Drupal 4.7 tonight and wondering what the .install file does. After installing about twenty modules the old fashioned way - using PHPMyAdmin to run the .sql file to create the database tables needed to support the module - I decided to read an install.txt file. Imagine my suprise to learn that, if there is a .install file included with the module, all you have to do is upload it to the modules directory and enable it on the module admin page. Drupal now creates the database tables for you. I tried it. It works. Makes sense, given everything Drupal needs to know to do this is already in the config file.

Many people are not comfortable with adding database tables using PHPMyAdmin. Now they don’t necessarily have to use it to install modules. This will help the Drupal community extend its reach and grow the install base. And it will save me a bit of time on each Drupal project. Time is money. And it adds up.

Thanks, Drupal Gods!

The Bush junta administration is leading by example yet again as it preaches democracy around the world. The people should speak, right? Voting is a sacred right, right?

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was “preposterous” to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

Preposterous? Any sane person could not help but conclude that the calls were related. The man was convicted, after all.

How do they do it? The Republican organizers get people to call the voting support line and then hang up when volunteers answer the phones. This means people with real problems can’t get through and, therefore, can’t vote.

Once again, Bush wastes the lives of young men and women who die abroad for his phony commitment to democracy. What are people in the countries he is supposedly trying to “liberate” to think? This is democracy? Some improvement. Truly a tragedy of our times. Bush’s presidency can’t end soon enough. Hopefully, the American public have had enough of the Republicans in general and will give control of Congress back to the Democrats next fall.

In the category of insanely bizarre time-wasters, zombo.com made me laugh pretty hard. If you have issues with George W. Bush being completely out of control, take back some control of the shrub at dancingbush.com. And if this hasn’t wasted enough of your time, try prettyworthless.com for more, but I suggest you don’t. Unless you really want to. But don’t blame me.

Here’s a cool video of Mike Garson playing various styles on the M-Audio ProKeys 88sx. I’m shopping around right now. So many fun choices…

I’m getting into making music with my Mac using GarageBand and found a great website for those of you thinking about doing the same.

http://www.macjams.com/ has a wide range of information about everything you would want to know about the subject of making music on a Mac. In particular, this article about using GarageBand with MIDI was really useful for a raw newbie like me.

Hope you like it. Make music!