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Ramblings of a pixel-pushing, barely-sane Sabbatical officer and Meeja Whore

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Diary entries by alexh on Fri 10th Nov 2006
While I wait for my bedtime cup of hot chocolate to cool down (and yes, that really is the time), I just wanted to jot down a couple of little changes that almost no-one will notice, even fewer people will use, and that I'm fairly proud of regardless.

  • Yesterday, I added social bookmarking links to the news and blog pages (as they're generated by the same chunks of code) to encourage a bit more user interactivity. No, it doesn't mean I'm expecting a gazillion people to descend on UPSU.net and declare it an amazing website, but it's definitely a start ;o)

  • I also got round to turning on a redirection system which lets us create a news article as normal, but instead of showing a news page when people click on the article's link, they're sent automagically over to another page on UPSU.net. This is quite handy if we want to put up a short news story where the topic is already explained in more detail elsewhere on the site, which lets us cut down on maintaining information on the site. It also means we can start linking blog entries and forum posts into the news feeds, which means that people whose only contact through the site is via the RSS feeds can also be kept more up-to-date on changes on the site's non-news areas. Not that you lot out there in readerland will ever actually see the system in action until you click on something you think is news and get sent over to Fraggy's Sheep Worrying pages. Or something...

  • Tonight, I've been tweaking the social bookmarking toys links (sorry) and adding in a bit more control over comments - now we can turn the commenting system off on a news article (and soon you'll be able to do the same in your blogs if you want to) to let us gracefully close any discussions that get a bit too heated, or just when we're reporting on factual news and don't want to give the impression that we're asking for comment. Comments also automagically turn themselves off a month after a news story was last updated, so yesterday's news doesn't start attracting comments that won't be seen by the majority of the readership. The third (and best) benefit of this is that it reduces the number of news articles which our new best mates the spam bots are posting on, which makes my day a little bit smoother ;o)

Goddamn I need to get me a life... Or take up knitting or something... ;o)

Buenos noches darlings! /al
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While wandering around Digg dot com, I noticed this story about the guy who (used to) play the part of the Mac user in the Mac vs. Windows adverts Apple have been running (although they were more likely to be found on US rather than UK TV sets).

What makes me laugh is the description of the Mac guy - Justin Long - as a "smug little twit" by a reviewer, and - even better - how he's "just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster ["hipster" - their word, not mine] we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast".

As I read that, a quick glance down confirmed my status: Macbook Pro on lap - check. Hoodie worn? Check (and a rather nice Gul one too, I might add...). Hands in pockets? Check. Smug little twit? A subjective response to this one, granted, but "Check" anyway...

I guess I've begun to turn into the stereotypical arty-type of person I've always felt a bit scared of. Mind you, I lack the associated talent and cashflow, so I'm sure I'll be ok for the time being... ;o)
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Welcome

Welcome to my online ramblings repository. As of Friday 16th March, I have been sentenced to serve an extra 18 months in Portsmouth as a Sabbatical officer at the Union. Until then, I have to get my degree and train up to be a Sabb while running UPSU.net

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about me

"Grumpy, geeky old grey-head"

'Ello! I'm Alex, and I'm one of the mysterious and slightly-shady figures know as "Sabbatical Officers" - my job title is something like Media Whore, and I divide my time equally between upsetting students, annoying staff members, tweaking the UP ... (read more).

my degree

BSc (Hons) eCommerce & Internet Systems (I got a Desmon)



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