Call for help

July 18th, 2007
Filed Under Shop Talk | 1 Comment

I found a CMS online that I’d like to try out. It’s called Symphony. It appears to be something I’d like, being very easily configurable and changable to almost anything you want it to be. So I downloaded it to try out here at home before I put it up live anywhere, and I’ve run into a few snags. First, because of the way it’s built, it requires an XSLT processor of some sort to be installed. No problem, I installed LibXSLT from the OpenSUSE repository, along with any dependancies (and there were several). I ran the install.php script for Symphony, and got a notification that I need an XSLT processor such as LibXSLT or Sablotron. OK. Wierd. So I download, compile and installed Sablotron. Restarted the machine (just in case), and tried the install script again. It still says I don’t have an XSLT processor installed, only, I do. I have two. So I did some poking around with google, and came across a post in Symphony’s help forum, called Overture, in which someone else is having the same problem. He’s got both installed, and when he gets phpinfo();, it shows '--with-dom-xslt' '--with-dom-exslt' '--enable-xslt' '--with-xslt-sablot' as being in the configure command.

So I did some poking around on my system. phpinfo(); doesn’t show any of those in my configure command. The problem for me is this: Which of the vast myriad of httpd.conf and php.ini files do I have to edit, and where and what do I do to enable either LibXSLT or Sablotron? Here’s what I have, from phpinfo on my system (click for larger):

One of the other forum members tells him he shouldn’t be using Sablotron anyway, that he should be using LibXSLT. Very helpful, man. But no further help seems to be forthcoming. So.. I’m putting the call out there for you Linux geniuses. What am I doing wrong? I should point out that I’m sort of a neophyte. I know enough about Linux to be dangerous, but I am (a) not a programmer (b) don’t know every intricate inner-working of Linux. So if you know how to make this work and can walk me through it (unfortunately I won’t be able to grant you access to the box, as it’s a private-side box that can only been seen inside the house, and the router has a bad history with port forwarding (it just doesn’t work).

Help?

UPDATE: Thanks to help from Roto via IM, it’s working now. Thanks Roto!

Gems from Overheard Chicago

July 15th, 2007
Filed Under Randomness | Leave a Comment

At some point while living in any city you overhear some great snippets of conversation. Here in Chicago, there is a website where you can submit the great ones you overhear. Here are just a few gems from their site:

Guy: (on phone) “You know, Chicago is WAY under-prepared for a zombie attack.”
— #36 Broadway Bus

Girl #1: “Menomonee? How do you pronouce that? Me no money street?”
Girl #2: “Oh my god, it is me no money street! That is so funny quick take a picture.”
Random Guy: “It is Me-nom-o-nee Street, not me no money!”
— Menomonee Street, Lincoln Park

Girl: (on cell) “And who does he think he is? We go on one date and he thinks I’m just going to throw it all out there, like I owe him something? Exactly. No one gets in my pants until AT LEAST date number two. And don’t even think it’s going to be fun.”
— Purple line platform, Howard

Girl: “You want dessert?”
Guy #1: “I do.”
Guy #2: “I don’t.”
Girl: “Why not? They have some good stuff.”
Guy #2: “Why not? Because I don’t want to gain the weight, that’s why.”
Guy #1: “Whatever. We’ll share some cake or something.”
Guy #2: “No. You two don’t understand. You can eat cake, cookies, ice cream, and pie and lose 3 pounds today. I’ll look at a glass of water and need to go up a pant size.”
— Bennigan’s on Michigan Ave.

Chicago Police Officer: (on Loudspeaker) “We would like to remind everyone that bottles and alchoholic beverages are not allowed in the park for tonight’s 4th of July festivities. (pause) Actually they are never allowed for that matter.”
— Lincoln Park

This is why I love Chicago

July 3rd, 2007
Filed Under People, Photography | Leave a Comment

Click for larger pic

You just never know what you’re going to see, nor where to expect it. Last weekend at Chicago’s Pride parade, there was a rather odd woman (I don’t know if she was a crack ho, homeless, crazy, or what) who was busy having her own parade. She’d started long before the parade began. She danced, marched, and stomped down the street wearing a pair of panties on her head, shouting and hollering.

Why didn’t I think of this? Insanely useful websites…

July 3rd, 2007
Filed Under Politics, Thoughts | Leave a Comment

The Sunlight Foundation has a collection of Insanely Useful Links for government transparency. No more can we cry foul that we can’t get the information we need, and that the House and Senate’s websites are too hard to navigate (well, they are! But that’s beside the point). There are many gems in this listing, such as Congressopedia, OpenCongress, OpenSecrets, OpenHearings, and FedSpending, among many others. From these sources, I’m able to see what my House Rep has been voting on, where he gets his campaign financing, what bills he sponsors, who he often votes with, who he often does not vote with, and other great bits of information. This is all information that would have been hard to dig through, but these great sites put it all right there at my fingertips.

You’ve got to love �Web 2.0,� clich�d as it may be.

I’m hoping that one day there will be an OpenWhiteHouse site. We badly need it, especially in light of a president and vice president who feel they are above the law, and that everything should be a secret. What are you two hiding, exactly?