E-Scribe News : a programmer’s blog

About Me

PBX I'm Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using open source software, especially Django. In the '90s I did graphic design for newspapers and magazines. Then I wrote technology commentary and reviews for Wired, Salon.com, Chicago Tribune, and lots of little places you've never heard of. Feel free to email me.

Book

I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well.

Colophon

Built using Django, served by Apache and mod_wsgi. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

Pile o'Tags

ajax apple blogs browsers business design django ebay fp fun google hardware haskell intellectual property iphone javascript linux media mercurial mobile open source os x oscon oscon2007 palm php programming python rails rants reading risks ruby site spam textmate the well tips tools unix vcs web development web frameworks webservers wmassdevs writing

Stuff I Use

Akismet, bitbucket, del.icio.us, Django, Emacs, FreeBSD, Git, jQuery, LaunchBar, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, Review Board, S3, SQLite, TextMate, Ubuntu Linux

Spam Report

At least 96060 pieces of comment spam killed since January 2008, mostly via Akismet.

Mining Monday: Ungreek

As seen recently on the Generator Blog (watch out for annoying popup ads) and Metafilter: ungreek.toolbot.com.

For years, designers have been using fake Latin gibberish known as greeking (or sometimes lorem ipsum, after the customary initial words) as a text placekeeper. It conveys the shape and "color" of text without the distraction of actual content.

Source options include the Esperantists' Manifesto, Jane Eyre, the Tao Te Ching, the GNU Public License (in Swedish), Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida," Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," Internet RFC 1630 by Tim Berners-Lee, and good old Lorem Ipsum.

Monday, October 10th, 2005
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Some related posts: Twittered • Library of 1000 scammy spams • Reverse game: Codegolf edition • Blog flair backlash • Mining Monday: embarrassing Google searches • Mining Monday: Random Shakespeare

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