Version 3.1.0 of HeadSpace2 brings with it:
- Page-specific plugins. Enable plugins on specific pages, perfect for restricting the scope of plugins to only those pages you want them to run.
- Cleaned up advanced post options
Audit Trail 1.0: Major update, more AJAX, extensible auditing
Audit Trail 1.0 brings with it:
- A major code rewrite
- Graphical diff for versioning
- Automatic version updates
- Extensible auditing – other plugins can register auditable actions
Ba Guan
China is an old country with a lot of history and, to an outsider looking in, with a lot of strange and alien customs.
Recently I was invited along for a foot massage at a local spa. This industry is well established in China, and they’ve been practicing these treatments for thousand of years. While having my feet massaged (which for just under one pound was a bargain), one of my friends suggested I try Ba Guan treatment. They described it as something where glass jars are attached to the back, removing moisture from the flesh. There are many reasons why someone would have this done, one being that it helps people with a, for want of better word, dodgy stomach. Aha! Sounds great, I thought, I have that.
Redirection 1.7.3: Log delete functions & update notification
Redirection 1.7.3 has been released and adds:
- Log delete functions – delete logs directly
- Update notifications – release notes directly inside the plugin
HeadSpace2 3.0.8: RSS options & update notification
Version 3.0.8 of HeadSpace2 brings with it:
- RSS options – Change the RSS title and description for your site and category pages
- Update notification – The HeadSpace2 plugin page will now show any updates to the plugin when they are released
- Hack to allow HeadSpace2 to work with ImageManager plugin
- Bug fix to remove error message when saving options
Post-concert Musings
I wrote recently about catching the Muse concert in Hong Kong, and here I am on the other side of that, somewhat tired, but pleased nonetheless.
Hong Kong rocked far harder than I could have imagined, and it was good to see that alternative music is alive and well there. The Asiaworld Exposition Hall is a monstrous building just past Hong Kong Airport, and the industrial grey concrete seemed befitting.
After waiting far too long for the staff to get wired up (surely they could have sorted this out before the start), Muse descended onto the stage and immediately launched into the first half of their set. Chatty they are not, saying but a few words in Cantonese for the whole of the show. However, they worked incredibly hard and the music was perfectly crafted, with Matt Bellamy’s falsetto voice always reaching the tricky notes and his fingers never missing a key on the classical piano sections.
Alas I took no photos, but courtesy of the great internet I can refer you to a couple of wobbly YouTube recording:
Small Yellow Inflatable Pigs
It was Chinese New Year a few weekends back and amongst the celebrations Guangzhou had its New Year Flower Fair. This is a local tradition going back over 500 years to the Ming Dynasty. I decided to check it out in the evening and went to one (of several) locations in the Beijing Road area of the city.
Filled In & HeadSpace – WordPress Plugins
An update on two of my WordPress plugins: HeadSpace is now standing at version 3, and Filled In at version 1.6. Both have had extensive changes. HeadSpace now allows you to define meta data across all WordPress pages, as well as supporting Ecto. Filled In is a very powerful form management system that has had a major revamp and is now much more capable and even has the ability to add CAPTCHA images to forms.
Singing For Absolution – Muse in Hong Kong
It’s funny how the world works. Only the other day I was complaining to a friend about the lack of musical events here in Guangzhou (or, at least, musical events I’d want to listen to) and that if anyone did come over and play, someone such as Muse for example, I’d buy a ticket in a heartbeat. A couple of weeks later and I’m watching TV when an advert comes on for a concert… Muse are playing in Hong Kong – just two hours away. That’s close enough for my prophecy! It took more than a couple of heartbeats, but suffice to say that I’m already booked in and feeling pretty pleased.
According to the site I have this to look forward to:
Following 2003’s chart-topping masterpiece “Absolution”, the trio released their fifth and yet another UK number one album “Black Holes and Revelations” in July 2006. Hit singles include “Supermassive Black Hole” and “Starlight”: the former is a dance tune with a twist that sounds like a cross between Beck and Marilyn Manson with a dose of Studio 54 glamour while the latter is an Abba gig on the moon. “Knights of Cydonia”, a surf-prog number, is another favourite single taken from the album.
An Abba gig on the moon. Nice. Sure beats my ears bleeding from the more local Twins concert.
I’ve no idea what to expect from the concert itself. Hong Kong is not exactly known for it’s rock scene, and the concert itself is conspicuously on Lantau Island, far away from civilisation (next door is the airport). Admittedly this is because the Asiaworld Expo centre is located there (where the concert is playing), but I also suspect that Muse’s prog-rock warblings may cause a few puzzled looks if it neighboured any civilisation.
Hong Kong here I come (again)!
Europe and back again
My first post of 2007 will be spent talking about the last month of 2006. I realise that it’s been a shockingly long time since I wrote anything here (five months, to be exact), and also that I’ve been incredibly bad at keeping up with emails and comments (my apologies to anyone who has contacted me – I will get back to you).
I spent the whole of December in Europe. Two weeks of this was in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the rest with family for Christmas in England. After a year in Asia it was great to go back home and be able to go about my business without being a cause for curiosity. It would be very trite of me to say that nothing had changed. It would also be quite untrue. A lot of things have changed, and none more so than UK airports, which can now be summed up very succinctly: a royal nuisance. Long queues and over-zealous security made every journey an extreme test of patience. Even leaving the train at the airport’s train station was not simple, and security were unhappy that I’d thrown my ticket away between leaving the train and exiting the station.