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    Search-building: custom or Google

    Until earlier this week, I had a lousy site search in place. It was one of Google’s Custom Search Engines, barely configured and only on its own page, due to it’s hefty (and blocking!) JavaScript. I’d long since disabled WordPress’s search since my stories aren’t being run in WordPress, and I didn’t feel like trying to chew on the internal search mechanisms to include the stories. Last week, I started playing around with a project to create my own (Python) site search, including a crawler and Whoosh-based search. I’d seen the implementation of a Lucene search in Zend go fairly easy-peasy, and liked the idea of a self-hosted search. Problem…

  • On Life and Love

    Weekend linkage

    Just a few, since I’m so far behind on my reading (down to 425 unread items!) and I just posted a set on Friday. Enjoy. How to Help Your Kids Build $25,000 Stock Portfolios – This is a tempting idea even with regards to something like weddings. "Help us retire together without having to eat pork-n-beans." …Naw, that doesn't work as well as with kids. 18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess | zen habits – Since I haven't dedicated a full weekend to clearing out junk in a while, stumbling across this article was quite nice. Baby steps. Designing Microsites: Factors To Consider – Again, this is…

  • On Life and Love

    Weekly linkage

    This week’s internet cruising: A Beginner’s Guide to Website Feedback – If I can wrap up and launch this damn character sheet app, stuff in this post will be handy for when it betas, especially the surveying. I suspect the LARPing audience will be sufficiently… opinionated to speak on it. Six Useful CSS3 Tools – Some of these are pretty slick, if you're moving into CSS3 development. Sharpening the blade, part MCMXVII: Nine Amazing Hours. – This is incredibly cool, and I plan to use it for a bit and see if it helps me focus. Amazing Examples of Paper Art – I almost hate to link to this, in…

  • On Life and Love

    “Pursuit” posted and character sheet news

    Chapter 9 of Witches, “Pursuit” is live. Actually, it went live yesterday, I just neglected to post here for it. I was busy having my ass handed to me by some type of hydra. Damn D & D 4e hydras. It had seven heads by the end. “But how do we get you out of here without anyone noticing?” Robert asked absently. Satisfied that her hand was fine, he pulled his hands back out of the attached gloves. Hardi tamped down a grin of victory. “Nice and easy. You’re going to create a distraction, and we’re going to slip out.” A small smile played on his lips as he asked,…

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    Tidying up LARP character sheets: an app in progress

    So. I LARP. Twice a month, I go out of my house dressed like a nurse and stand around acting like I see ghosts and have an extra-special creepy ghost of my own on my shoulder. Yeah, so if I’m late to your Saturday afternoon picnic this summer, this is likely why. I LARP in White Wolf‘s Geist system, which is very new in the LARP world — the worldwide game just started in March. There’s one person that has taken it upon herself to create and maintain (sorta) Excel character sheets, and the sheets for the Vampire game seem up-to-date and fully functioning. The Geist one isn’t so much,…