Some of you noted the article that got hacked last week. That got me to thinking about an earlier post I made and the news I have been seeing on the various Nuke support sites.

The short version is this. While Nuke is a really robust framework with a lot of support out there, security has always been an issue. In recent weeks tere has been a bit of strife among some of the more active support sites. Competing security programs and some generally childish sniping among folks who should know better.

While nuke will continue to grow and progress it is becoming clear that it is evolving into a commercial grade architecture with a lot of security considerations that I don’t want to mess with.

So… I am planning on switching to a new software package in the near future. Right now the front runner is BlogCMS which is an offshoot of NucleusCMS. What does this mean for you, the loyal visitor? Well, there is good news and bad.

Good news. A better system that will allow easier updates. Things like right-click blogging (see something you want to write about? the blog entry is only one click away). It will still have the community feel that we currently employ. I will also be adding some of the things that make Green Scissors a place I visit everyday like phpGrabComics, a news reader and a photo gallery. And I will be putting up forums of some type (either phpBB which we currently use, or the hybrid forum that comes with the CMS) so all you Grazing Antelopes and others will still have a place to discuss your exploits. I will also be keeping the Zina Music System and plan to start adding music again.

The bad news. As with any major change, content migration is going to be a b!tch. On this count I will promise this. All articles that have been written here will be preserved in some form. I’m just not sure what that form will be yet. I may convert them to static pages, or keep some stripped down version of nuke running. In a perfect world I would find a way to drag them into the new blog format, but that is a pretty long range goal.

So there you have it gang. Keep an eye out for more news of this pending shift. I promise to give notice before I do anything crazy.

As many of you know, Jason is going to be laid off soon. Cast your vote for where he should pursue his next career opportunity. I guarantee that I will take all votes into serious consideration. Really, I promise.

I have been working on the Dragon Knight game for awhile and the ideas just keep coming. I realized last night that I probably will not be spending much time posting articles here between the game and the new job starting middle of next month. I’ve transition stuff to do at work and several travel plans for the summer.

So let this be a call to whomever else wants to chime in on the site. Now is the time!!!!! So lets see that poetry you’ve been hiding, that political rant you just can’t keep in anymore, or that crazy link you think we all need to know about.

I will be back in a month or so with some great vacation pics, a new job and a recharged battery.

At least on a personal front there is still no news to report. I have short-timers syndrome but still no word from the mighty HR gods on my new gig.

In an unrelated note, the Zen calendar today offers this:

A humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning.
-Thomas A Kempis

I’m feeling pretty close to God these days (He has bad breath BTW) but I’m not so sure about the humble part. I think I know myself well enough, and like the man says, "…its hard to be humble when your perfect in every way."

And on that completely ridiculous note…

Seems its not just a verb anymore. Residents of Fucking, Austria recently defeated a proposal to change the town’s name despite some problems attached to the unique moniker.

The 150 or so people who live in the village debated the issue after roadsigns kept being stolen – many by British tourists.

Spokesman Siegfried Hoeppl, said, "Everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us F*cking is F*cking – and it`s going to stay F*cking – even though the signs keep getting stolen."

Yetis, they’re not just legends anymore. If you haven’t seen Yeti Sports, creators of of the Pingu Toss games, check them out today. The 5th version, Flamingo Drive, sees our furry hero in Africa trying to smack the hapless tuxedoed fowl across the the safari landscape.

RPGers! Tired of all the old cliches? Then you will want to check out the beta version of Kingdom of Loathing. An online MUD style game that is sure to entertain. In lieu of the standard Warrior/Wizard/Theif arrangement, KoL offers some new charaters to play.

I just don’t know what to do with this but… You should check out the Cliche Dance anyway. Don’t ask for an explanation. Some people just have too much time on their hands.

How do you manage your links? Because the folks at Hyper-Link-O-Matic think they have a better way.

Hyperlinkomatic is a smart alternative to dumb lists of favorites and bookmarks.

You can grab links, makes notes, set multiple categories, search links, import links from web pages, upload bookmarks, create bookmarks files, share links, publish links. It is, in short, a place to keep your links.

After all, the net’s bigger than a favorites list. And it’s not getting any smaller…

One of the very nice features is that you can put a link in as many categories as you like and have a wonderful cross referenced library of links. I’m not completely sold on the interface but I think they have a pretty good base to work from.

Ever get asked stupid questions? Not anymore! When someone walks into your cube and asks how many barrels are in a hogshead or other equally annoying inquiries, just tell them to FGI it.

And that, my dear friends is all the Grind you need to enjoy another weekend.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the Green Scissors team took the Crystal Cup at the W.J. McBrides Pub Quiz Championship in Overland Park, KS.

After finishing second on several occasions during the season, the Green Scissors team (registered members include Tamarin, dawnuh, Cherish and Nancy) staged an amazing run through the middle rounds of the championship and held off late rallies by several teams including two time defending champs Gertrude Ederle to come away with the win. The final margin of victory was less than 30 points (translating into three correct answers over the 8 round competition).

Significant answers during the finals include the correct identification of Benito Mussolini, a near guess at the original number of Supreme Court Justices, correctly filling in the blanks on Black Eyed Peas lyrics and in an improbable lark of a correct answer coming up with the movie Leprechan 2 based on a plot synopsis and tag line.

It’s not funny, or cool, it’s not helpful, and I don’t really believe that they are really wanting to make an effort to get out of the way. If they aren’t going to actually hustle…I’d appreciate it id they’d just walk normally, afterall, they do have the right of way.

You’ve seen it, I’m sure. You’re stopped at a stop sign at a four way intersection… and someone on foot approaches the intersection… Just about the time it’s your turn to go the person has stepped out in front of your path.

The person then noticing that they are "in the way" hunches up their shoulders and feigns the motions of running with their arms, while the rest of their body just strolls along leisurly…on occassion you might encounter the odd high stepper…but the pace stays the same.

Who do they think they’re fooling? Is it intentional?

My advice to them…Don’t irritate people behnd the wheel of a one ton killing machine with retarded antics that merely taunt them. Maybe next time they’ll faux brake.

Responsibility. Itï¿œs a word that conjures up images of toiling at a job you hate, paying your bills on time, and taking out the trash before a foul and mysterious odor permeates the kitchen. In short, responsibility makes us think of all the things we donï¿œt like, but are forced, to do.

Yet it seems to me that responsibility is getting a bad name here. For every obligation it seems to force upon us, it provides a corresponding degree of freedom. More to the point, in fact, thatï¿œs what responsibility is; freedom.

To get from obligation to freedom, you have to view responsibility not as a burden, but a simple statement of fact. In truth, we are all responsible for our lives. Does that just mean that we have to pay our bills and go to the dentist? On the surface, maybe, those are some expressions of responsibility. But ultimately, what it means is that all the events in your life have occurred because of the choices youï¿œve made. Think of the last painting you sawï¿œthere wasnï¿œt a single brushstroke there by accident; they were all there because of the actions of the artist. Now consider: you are the artist of your own life. Every event, every person, every image, is there because youï¿œve drawn it there. And the beautiful part is, like the artist, you can always change the picture, or switch to a new canvas altogether. And thatï¿œs the ultimate truth of responsibility. When you look back at it through the lens of time, it appears a burden, but when you look ahead toward the possibilities, itï¿œs all a blank canvas, waiting to be filled in.

Of course, not everything in our lives seems to be there by design, right? After all, everyone feels as though they are adrift from time to time, their lives changing at the whims of others or of fate rather than by their own decisions. And yet itￜs still true that no matter what other factors there are, it is the individualsￜ actions that led them to the present.

Consider. Iￜm divorced, live in the suburbs of Chicago and work as a corporate trainer. I probably never would have moved to Chicago if I hadnￜt gotten married ￜ my ex is from the area originally. Obviously, I wouldnￜt have married her if we hadnￜt met. Ours was a long-distance relationship, and I met her when she was visiting a mutual friend at college in Missouri. Eventually I decided to go visit her in Iowa. My truck broke down, turning what would have been a 2-day trip into a 5-day marathon. We kept seeing each other and a year or so later, I moved to Iowa. We dated, both (eventually, in my case) graduated from college, moved in together, got married, moved to Chicago, had all manner of angst interesting only to ourselves, and got divorced. A long series of events, to be sure.

But what was the causal event? Was it fate, or chance, or my failure to check the oil in my truck before driving to Iowa? Given the way things turned out, do I want to take responsibility for it? Well, Iￜm happier now than Iￜve been in years ￜ but what if I wasnￜt? Does the situation make me any more or less responsible for the course of my life?

In the end, I think it comes down to this: I can choose to believe that Iï¿œm responsible for what happens to me, or I can choose to believe that I am not. But I donï¿œt get to make that decision selectively. That is, if Iï¿œm responsible for my victories, then surely I am also responsible for my failures. Likewise, if it is cruel Fate which keeps me from meeting a goal today, then it is capricious Chance, rather than my own virtue, that allows me to meet the goal tomorrow. So the real question isnï¿œt so much about the sort of picture I want to paint, but whether I am in fact the painter at all.

5/29/04