Archive for November, 2008

In the end, transfering a WordPress installation from one server to the next will not have been a simple task. As a matter of fact, moving the files, moving the database, seemed to be the easiest. But I could no longer upload images in WordPress.

Here is what I had to do (and you may have to do) to get back full features and operations:

• Check that PHP was in safe_mode (not obvious, you’d have access to the server or its administrator).
• Ensure that access rights to the image upload directory (wp-content/uploads/*) were clearly set to 777 (here again, you’ll need to get support from the adminstrator, or a Telnet/SSH access to your account on the server).
• Since I did not re-install WordPress from scratch, but transfered the full config, I did not notice that the setting for storing of images was now bogus (the directory used on the previous server was not existing on the new server). So, I went back to the admin interface of WordPress > Settings > Miscellaneous and set again wp-content/uploads as the upload directory (first option on this page and default value as shown/written under it).

I hope that you will not be stung like me…

Andrew Chase designed a strange mechanical elephant. It works, it’s articulted. Weird!

Source: Baekdal.com.

Finally, we’ve got photos and features for the Nikon D3x, the new high-end dSLR camera in the pro range from Nikon. All is posted on YLovePhoto.com.

Monitor lizard - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

http://www.biggerbetterbeards.org/

I have a beard! Just drop a message here.

Young males tend to fight together useful wide head moves. Here are a few giraffes suddenly met while in the middle of a personal fight. Wide slow motion, violent collisions, elegance of the very dynamic exchanges.

Girafes - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Girafes - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Girafes - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Are you colour-blind like 5% of European male population? This is the question that will receive an answer here. You will even know the exact form of colour-blindness is yours when browsing to test your colour vision.

You will have to check little images like the one here and indicate what you see (not everybody sees the same thing, it’s not as simple as you’d think first).

Then, the test will speak and you’ll know. It’s barely less precise that a pro optician or a physician eye/vision test. It’s based on exactly the same elements.

See also: Color-blindness and spftware specification.

It is always more pleasant to work with a nice wall paper on your PC (or Mac) desktop. Here are two interesting source sof beautiful wallpapers based on photographic quality images:

• dozens of nature-oriented images (including some cartoons) on UsingMac.com;
• ligthning and storms (15 images).

Downright spectacular.

A very nice set of camouflaged animals.

A Grey Cicada hides on pine bark in France

Source: Daily Mail.

A cheetah family (the other photos are on YLoveBigsCats.com).

Cheetah and cubs - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus, Guépard, Guepardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

A few baboons walking down a Kenyan road.

Guinea Baboon - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Male Baboon - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Guinea Baboons - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Guinea Baboon (Papio papio, Babouin de Guinée, Papión de Guinea), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

This secret is almost public: PDF documents protected by a password (to prohibit cut-and-paste or print functions) are badly protected. As a matter of fact, there is even a fereeware utility program available for Windows whose only aim is to run around this protection. Freeware PDF Unlocker, even if it does not do much and is more limited than its commercial equivalents, merely and simply allows you to cut-and-paste the contents of a password-protected PDF file. Simple, efficient, recommended!