Lorelle reports on when people should stop blogging: when it’s getting boring, when you don’t have time, when you can’t think of anymore original content, and a few others. Do you think it’s time to stop blogging?
Having been a user of Joomla, and it’s predecessor, Mambo, I can easily tell you that the two products are very powerful. Mambo and Joomla are content management systems that help even novice users manage the content on their sites easily. In this review I will be focusing on the strengths of the powerful Joomla framework and how it can be used for a community site.
Joomla by itself is one immense package, giving you lots of features right out of the box. Aside from content management, you get a links system, contacts pages, an RSS reader and several other basic components. If you are looking to build a small site for your business, this will often suffice.
With some extensions (as they are formally known, and include modules, components and plugins) you can transform your site into a powerful community or intranet. Joomla provides the framework for components like Joomlaboard (a fully-integrated forum) and Community Builder (for user profiling and member lists). Hundreds of third-party components exist, and cover dozens of applications, from help desks to event calendars.
If you already use certain tools on your web site, like Simple Machines Forum or Coppermine Gallery, there are components released by the community to integrate them with the Joomla environment.
For changing the look and feel of your site, Joomla has a templating system that uses PHP for its template tags. Although many people find this to be rather annoying, the next major release (Joomla 1.5) will have an new system with designer-friendly tags. However there will also be backwards compatibility for current templates as well.
For many kinds of sites, simple static HTML won’t make the cut. Communities and enterprises need more that the traditional web-site building tools. Content management systems like Joomla will fulfill many needs of these organizations, and can be easily extended to fit their needs.
Devin unlocks yet another secret function of Gmail. This trick is to make to do lists with filters, labels and a bit of text appended to your email address.
On this snowy Thursday was the January Math A Regents exam. Because of the bad scheduling of the BJE (Board of Jewish Education), we were stuck going in to school in the very middle of our vacation, messing up vacation plans for some of us. But let’s focus on the Regents I took today.
Going in to the exam room, I was not nervous, but I wasn’t feeling too confident. I kept on thinking to myself that I’m basically screwed. I don’t know whether it was my fault (for not studying) or the Board of Regents’ fault (for making a hard test), but the test was difficult indeed. There were questions on some topics that weren’t asked before, and they omitted certain topics that they usually include. What killed me most was the trig question in Part IV, even after attempting to use the phrase “SohCohToa” (which is highly regarded as the key to success in trig).
In the end, I did get a decent score of 86 (including a slight curve that is likely to be added to soon), which was derived from my raw score of 63. I’m not depressed that I got that grade, and I line up somewhere in the middle of my class’s range (minimum was 83 and maximum was 97 I think).
So now I have three more Regents to take, namely the Hebrew, Chemistry and Global History exams. My mom just got me the book called High Marks: Regents Chemistry Made Easy which is one of the best books available for the purpose. We are also looking for a suitable review book for the Hebrew Regents (if you know about one, please leave a comment below). Hopefully I’ll do very well on these tests.
And to continue the Bus Week spirit (read about Day One and Day Two), I took the Q46 home from school today. I got Queens Village Depot’s RTS #8999 and took it from Lake success (all the way at the very first stop) to my stop. I have recorded the segment of the trip from Little Neck Parkway to near the Grand Central Parkway.
9rules member Coputerjoe is trying to figure out what Web 2.0 really translates into. Many say that a Web 2.0 site is one that incorporates AJAX, but the best way to define it probably is one that sticks out from the crowd.
One more day closer to Regents and yet another day of bus riding. My trips today also weren’t so successful, but I did actually go to a few places. Here’s the results.
I headed out quite a bit later than I did yesterday, leaving the house at around 11:15 AM. To get the facts out quickly and sweetly, both the departing and returning Q46 trips were on RTS buses (and I wasn’t doing very well today in terms of tracking the buses I rode, which means no manufacturer names).
I took the E into Manhattan, and walked through the long tunnel between Port Authority and Times Square, as well as through the Times Square station. It’s really not a big deal though.
While walking on 42nd Street, I noticed something kind of cool. Under the “canopies” in front of the McDonalds and the theater on that block, there are heating lamps installed. The respective owners probably did that to make their customers feel more welcomed into their establishments, but I’m sure the homeless people appreciate it.
On the way home, I took a little detour through the subways. I took the S from Times Square to Grand Central, then the 6 to 53rd Street, and finally the E back to Queens.
Here’s where the fun begins. I took the Q37 to my elementary school, and magically it was a hybrid. actually, I was waiting in line for the Q10, and an Orion V was sitting at the stop, but after a few minutes a hybrid showed up at the Q37 stop just one short block away.
Coming back from there, I took the Q10 back up to Queens Blvd., and saw a hybrid on the Q60, which was a miracle for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t move too fast, despite the lack of any traffic on Queens Blvd.
From there it was the E train yet again back to Union Tpke. and the Q46 home. My MP3 player didn’t get a whole lot of mileage today, but I’m happy I went somewhere, and met some old friends (more like teachers) along the way.
What an exciting day! Today was my first ever “Bus Day”. It probably differs from other people’s ideas of what a bus day is, since I went out for recordings of buses, not pictures. And unfortunately, I came back slightly disappointed, but I’m happy I came back with at least something.
To begin, I took the Q46 to Queens Blvd. (as I do when I go anywhere), which conveniently was a hybrid (a 2004 one I think). This ride went relatively smoothly, as my recordings point out.
I then hopped on the Q10 for the first time in almost a year and a half. The last time I took the Q10 was in elementary school. Ever since graduating, I have had a private bus company or van company take me to school. Anyway, I am noticing that the MTA Bus is using their hybrids wisely, since some of JFK Depot’s routes are of the constant stopping-and-going variety. That is what hybrid buses (especially those with series hybrid propulsion systems) are basically designed to take advantage of, which is good for transit agencies, but bad for those who like to record buses (like me, hehe).
The new (as in 2006-2007 build year) HEVs are slightly different in the inside. The floors now resemble those of the older RTSs and Orion Vs in that they are grooved in the aisles and have the marble look the other buses have. Also, there are now entirely forward facing seats behind the back door (not counting the far-rear row), instead of having two forward-facing rows. This would make it a bit easier to move around on a crowded bus, but there are also two fewer seats and I think that there are fewer poles for holding on to.
I took the Q10 back to Queens Blvd., where I got an old ex-Jamaica Bus RTS (presumably a TMC, but I don’t remember the number so I can’t look it up in the latest edition of The Roster). This bus had all of the old stickers around the back door, and surprisingly it also had touch-tapes instead of the old pull cords.
Another RTS later, I was ready to make my way into Manhattan. Got another hybrid on the Q46 to Queens Blvd. With this trip, however, I had a bit of fun in the subway. Within three minutes I had recordings of four trains, where in each recording (the latter of which you can listen to) two trains either pulled into or left the station at the same time.
Tomorrow I’m going to go out again. I might take the Q10 for a second try, if there are any buses around when I get to Kew Gardens. Otherwise it’ll be back across Queens blvd. for a shot at the Q60, which wasn’t doing too well today in terms of hybrids. In the meantime, I should probably study for the Regents exam that I am taking on Thursday.
Special thanks to BusTalk.net members whose names I don’t know for the pictures.
Six o’clock today marked the official end of midterms for the first semester. I took three exams within the last week: English, which was pretty easy except for the SAT-level questions on reading comprehension, Global History, which required some brain activity but wasn’t too hard, and Chemisrty, which I wouldn’t be surprised if I failed.
Right now I’m officially on vacation, but because of some bad scheduling that has been around for years, we are taking the Math A Regents exam right smack dab in the middle of the break (which is short enough already). Fortunately, I’m not that bad at math, and the exam is based on elementary material, so I should get a nice score.
I plan on holding my first ever bus day tomorrow (Tuesday), when I will ride on several routes that use MTA Bus’ new hybrids. More specifically, I will attempt to ride on the Q10 and Q60, both out of John F. Kennedy Depot (formerly Green Bus Lines, one of the private lines of NYC, until this year). Hopefully the recordings that I make of these buses will come out well.
This is one busy week for a vacation week. Bus Day 2007, second Regents exam, and more sleep. Too bad it only lasts until Sunday.
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