And then there was Apple, offering a little box of a computer, with a single button mouse, called the Macintosh. Very beige, very boxy, nothing that would help it stand out on a shelf. But it came with a wealth of software, including MacPaint and HyperCard, an application that gave consumers their first taste of programming. The Macintosh stepped beyond the bounds of what was accepted in personal computing by encouraging folks to create, to play and to explore.

Because of the Macintosh, those ordinary folks discovered the power of technology. Some of them became extraordinary, the first generation of hackers and tinkerers. It’s folks like them that went on to build Google, WordPress, Facebook…the list goes on and on.

Yes, the devices are wonderful. I have two within arms reach and another in the closet. And yes, Apple is truly a company worthy of envy. But those are just temporary.

Steve’s lasting legacy is his commitment to one thing: we could all be adventurers.

1. If you re-insert a Drupal webform using INSERT statements, you may discover that, even though you’ve set your components properly, they won’t show up. If so, make sure you haven’t INSERTed the data for the webform_roles table. Drupal will rebuild those for you, otherwise it’ll choke on that data and not give you your components.
2. Navicat is so fired!

Say hello to the Bookworm. The Bookworm is a WordPress-based site running a special theme called Twenty Links and a plugin that creates a custom post type called–you guessed it–bookmarks. The theme and plugin were created by Stephanie Leary and Aaron Parecki. I just hooked that up through a custom plugin to WordPress’ Press This feature and bookmarking couldn’t be easier.

I invite you to take a look and see what’s been capturing my interest on the web (fair warning: I didn’t weed out any bad links, so the older ones have probably rotted by now). Once I get some spare time, I’m going to see if I can’t get the site talking to Twitter.

Anyway, take a look and tell me what you think, though I can’t take too much of the credit since it’s a Themify design.

Hosts files and the Google Android emulator

Probably goes without saying, but be sure to add a dot-slash to each command (./adb or ./emulator) if you’re on a Mac.

So, a few thoughts.

1. Congratulations to the Boston Bruins, winners of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Many will say that the series turned on the Horton injury/Rome suspension, but I really think it turned after Game 5 when Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo ran his mouth about how he would have made the save on the one goal Tim Thomas let in. Result? Boston outscored Vancouver 9-2 over the final two games of the series. I suppose that Vancouver Media Relations will be working harder next season to see that this doesn’t happen again.

2. The trip to Ohio took place over the course of 2 days going, 2 days returning. For the trip, I bought a copy of Rob Bell’s controversial new book, Love Wins. It’s a quick read, only 200 pages or so, but man…what a read. It’s a very compelling look at Heaven, Hell, eternity, etc. I recommend it. Of course, that said, I’d appreciate any links or pointers to critiques of the book.

3. I also took the time to brush up on my JavaScript. You know, once you dig into it a bit, you’ll find that little language has some power under the hood. So much so that I’m looking at Sencha Touch and PhoneGap for mobile app development than any native solution.

4. Finally, I’m posting some pictures I took from the trip up north to Flickr. I’m pushing up at least one a day so come back to this post to see them. And don’t forget to click on them, I think the descriptions are worth a read too. :)

If $SOME_CHARITY gets $ROUND_NUM_OF_FOLLOWERS on $SOME_SOCIAL_NETWORK, then $GOOD_THING

Just administer the damn shots already and stopping holding needy folks hostage!

Oil bubbles and tendrils of steel grooving to alt rock. Enjoy!

We (meaning the company I work for) build quite a few sites in Drupal. In fact, when I joined, they were making the transition from Joomla to Drupal. It’s a beast, but it can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it.

I can’t wait to use the new version to build some kick-ass websites.