Tag Archives: g33k

Things that are geeky.

How to fix disappeared WordPress comments

I’m not sure if this happened after an upgrade or something, but I logged in to WordPress this morning and found that ALL comments on the blog had disappeared! No approved… no pending… no spam. I knew that couldn’t be right, so I did some research and found this post on the WordPress Support forums:

Been using WordPress for years without hitch. I recently however upgraded to 2.9.1 and nobody can now post comments. If I try to post a comment, the page goes blank (on this url http://eastlower.co.uk/wp-comments-post.php#comment-)

Worse, all my previous comments from 606 posts appear to have disappeared (at least it says they have on the dashboard).

I’ve contacted my administrator who says my database in phpmyadmin is fine – though the comments table says ‘in use’.

I logged into phpMyAdmin and sure enough, the comments table says “in use.” I scrolled down a little farther and this comment seemed promising:

In Cpanel click on MySql Databases. On the next page you should see your MySql DBs. click on the “repair” button for the db you are using for your site. Hope it helps. Worked for me and I had the same problem.

I had some trouble finding this “repair” button and once I found it, I thought I would do a little step by step for others that had problems. This is using phpMyAdmin version 3.4.5.

Step 1: Log into your cPanel (located on your server, separate from WordPress) and then log into phpMyAdmin. Click on your WordPress database. BACK UP YOUR DATABASE BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER.

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Step 2: In the list of tables, locate wp_comments and click the check box next to it.

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Step 3: Scroll down and choose “Repair Table” from the drop down box.

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Step 4: Success! It’s been repaired successfully.

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And now all my comments are back, even those lovely spam comments 😀

See, that wasn’t too hard! Hopefully that helps you!

Computer Update

Well, I finally got myself a new laptop. I’m now the proud owner of this bad boy…

Toshiba Satellite L650

I loved the last Toshiba that I killed, so it only made sense to upgrade to another Toshiba when I had some extra money. It has a 320GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive which is fine for me; I use an external HD so I don’t really need my machine’s local HDD to be incredibly beefy. What was important to me was that the thing be fast, so I got a Intel Core i5-480M dual core processor and 4GB (2GBX2) 1066MHz DDR3 memory. If I went with a desktop I could have gotten a better processor, but I’m liking the speed this laptop is providing.

Unfortunately, once I received it I realized it only has two USB plugs. Luckily, I just did a lot of research on USB Hubs, so I ordered the Tulip USB hub. Unfortunately, when it arrived it did not come with a power cord, and without that external devices such as an external HD or iPod won’t work. I contacted the manufacturer, there was not one available. Stupidly, I found a power cord around my house, plugged it into the Hub and… shorted the HDD on my NEW laptop. 🙁 Luckily, I was able to send it in for repair since it was still under warranty. Hooray!

I ended up ordering a different, not cute USB hub. 🙁 As long as it works and doesn’t short my computer though, I’m happy.

Installing New RAM in MacBook and Sony Vaio VGN-FS8900

A couple of weeks after the tea disaster of 2010, I bought new ram for my MacBook and my Sony Vaio VGN-FS8900 laptops. Both were equipped with only 512MB of RAM (help!) but had a max capacity of 2GB, so for only about $80 I was able to get more RAM for both of them.

I’m not that computer technical, but replacing the RAM was a BREEZE! A helpful Mac employee directed me to a website that would walk me through the process called iFixIt.com. All I had to do was follow this simple tutorial and voila! I now had 2GB of RAM.

The Sony was a bit trickier. After lots of searching, I found this user manual and it has some text instructions starting on page 110. I had a bit of a scare (the computer wouldn’t boot at first) but eventually the operation was successful!

I felt like such an elite geek afterwards, like Angelina Jolie in Hackers!

Cute USB Hubs!

I was at Target the other day and bought a USB hub, but when I brought it home and plugged it in, the thing didn’t work! So I decided to poke around the interwebs and see what I could find. (For those of you who don’t know, a USB hub is a USB device that plugs in to one USB port and splits it into many. Think of it as a power strip for USB ports.)

Mouse USB hub

This mouse USB hub has four ports, one of each of its legs. They’re all USB 2.0 and it comes in a variety of colors. Check out the Mouse USB Hub at Brando.com.
Continue reading →

Asian dramas (redux)

I have begun watching Asian Dramas again on KSCI! God, love that channel. This one is called Cain and Abel, it’s Korean. Unfortunately I came into it partway through, so I’m a little fuzzy on the storyline so far. I think I came in midway through the first episode (I hope). It stars the same guy as my other favorite, So Ji Sub from Thousand Years of Love. Apparently Cain and Abel just finished airing in Korea. I like that its current!

On Tuesday night I was watching another drama when I was trying to fall asleep. It sucked me in though, so it didn’t help 🙂 It was a period drama and I can’t remember the name. Found it! It’s called Princess Ja Myung, and I guess it’s still in its original airing in Korea! Awesome!

Hopefully I’ll remember to keep up with these. I’ve always heard that Korean dramas are the best ones, that do you think?

Excellent!

I just beat The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii. I’m so happy I finally beat it, haha. But also a little sad! I really liked this Zelda. I never got too much into Windwaker, and I didn’t have a gamecube, so the last Zelda i really loved was A Link to the Past. I’m still watching the ending credits/cut scenes as I type this, lol. I thought it was a little too east at times, but overall it was a really satisfying game. I’m not sure what I’ll play next! Maybe I’ll unlock some characters in SSBB or play some more of my puzzle games. The Wii really is a great system. 🙂

How do you create your WordPress themes?

I’m really interested and curious to find out how other people come up with their themes for WordPress. Although I really love the blogging tool, my one complaint has been how hard it is for people like me, who aren’t that familiar with PHP, to successfully get in and create their own themes. There are some guides out there for people like me, but unfortunately I find a lot of them hard to understand and not too user friendly.

Normally I’ll begin in Photoshop and do a mock up of what I’d like my final theme to look like, including link colors, text colors, and etc. Then I’ll go and try to find an existing theme (usually from my collection) that will fit this idea. I then tweak the CSS and code around to get the theme to work, and I always give credit to the original creator of the original theme. Sometimes the theme works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Lately I’ve been contemplating building a theme from the ground up, without borrowing code from other themes, and it’s a little daunting. How do I start? Should I just build a page without WordPress in mind using CSS, and then try to fit WordPress into it afterwards? Should I try to build my theme around WordPress functions I know that I want to use?

Other things I try to do when envisioning a new theme is to check out the websites of my esteemed peers. 😀 Websites like beccary.com, tehsheriff.org, pure-essence.net, bubblessoc.net (even though it’s down at the moment), and veerle.duoh.com are all created with that clean, sophisticated, and elegant style that I love. There aren’t too many elements distracting you, all are very simple and clean and all of the elements match well and work well together.

How do you go about creating your themes? What is your process?

Yes!! Google Reader has Search!!

I am a big fan of all things Google, one of these services being their Google Reader, a feed reeder. What is that, you ask? :dork:

Your inbox for the web

With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email.

* Stay up to date.
Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content.
* Share with your friends.
Use Google Reader’s built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family.
* Use it anywhere, for free.
Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.

One of my biggest complaints about it from the beginning was its lack of a search function. It seemed odd to me that a company that built its notoriety on creating a new search engine would not include this service in one of their products. But FINALLY, they have added this function! Now you can search your subscribed threads with ease:

Search lets you use keywords to find items in your subscriptions (if you’re looking to search all blogs, give Blog Search a try). If you subscribe to someone’s shared items, it’ll search those too.

This is just so awesome!! Especially for someone like me, who has literally THOUSANDS of read items, this is really an essential feature.

Thanks Google!! :star:

Did you hear? There’s a new iPod!

But that’s not all. Seems like Apple has updated its whole line of iPods! XD So what’s new, you ask?

The new flagship iPod has “the same size screen as the iPhone, but it’s even thinner” (eight-millimeters, for those taking notes), and it also touts the “same multi-touch interface” found on the firm’s handset. Additionally, it boasts a 3.5-inch widescreen display, the ability to “flick through your photos,” and you even get the “slide to unlock” feature, too. And yes, this thing actually has WiFi. Of note, the built-in wireless antenna isn’t exactly attractive, but if it means that we can surf the web (YouTube included) and buy tunes on our iPod, we suppose it may be an acceptable flaw. As for battery life, the Touch is said to last 22-hours when playing back audio and 5-hours when watching video, but only time will tell how draining web surfing will be. The iPod Touch will be arriving in 8GB and 16GB flavors and will be priced at $299 and $399, respectively, when they ship “worldwide in a few weeks.”

And there’s also a new iPod Nano:

The new units will include 2-inch screens with QVGA resolution, and apparently boast the same quality as the iPod video. The displays have the highest pixel density the company has ever shipped, and it seems the extra-wide players will sport an “enhanced” UI (which looks a lot like the video we saw recently) and its own version of Cover Flow. The nano will come bundled with three games, including a circular-Arkanoid rip-off called Vortex, and apparently you’ll be able to purchase more from the iTunes store. The battery life is fairly impressive as well, with Apple touting 24 hours of playback for audio, and 5 hours for video. The 4GB model will be selling for $149, though it’s only available in silver, while the rainbow-colored 8GB will leave you $199 lighter in the wallet.

And a new classic iPod:

Like the brand new iPod nano, the flagship iPod is also sporting an all-new interface, headlined by Cover Flow. The iPod comes in 80GB and 160GB capacities, with 30 hours of battery for audio playback, 6 hours of video on the 80GB version, and 40 hours / 7 hours for the 160GB unit. In addition to the new interface, the iPod Classic is getting a new all-metal shell, and is selling at $249 for the 80 gigger, $349 for 160.

Thanks Engadget. Which one are you looking forward to? Personally, I think the iTouch is a ripoff for the amount of space they give you. Once I get enough money, I’ll just grab one of the video iPods. Maybe I can get the old ones for cheap somewhere. :star: