Bug my car dump: Weekend DLD 0216-1708
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 1:29 AM PST
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PrintInspired by Apricot’s awesome HOWTO DLD IN 3.0 DLD of yesterday, I thought I’d check and see what this brave new world was like for myself. Also, with the recommend system now working, Zonis’ Bug Report fAnPOsT has dropped out of sight, so please use this space to post weekend links and 3.0 bug reports. I have some of both:
Bugs:
1. I like to see lots of faNPoSts on my front page, and I keep trying to choose “show 25 fANPosTS,” but it doesn’t take. It stays on 10 or so.
2. My first car I ever bought for myself was an orange ’72 VW Bug, with the infamous semi-automatic "Autostick" transmission, an apex of automotive absurdity. Like Eric Chavez, it was clutchless! And I repaired it with speaker wire whenever it stopped working, like every third day. 
It didn’t end this way on my watch, but it was heading there fast.
3. I’ve always written my diaries KraZEe FaNpoST AkshUn in Word, hand-coding my limited repertoire of HTML tricks. I think most people writing DLDs did the same. As I write this I’m wondering if it’ll work this time. As I'm previewing I learn it does not. I must use the buttons, or forgo all pictures, which get uploaded as sbn assets instead of simple img src placed images. And then the pics don't go where I wanted them, and I have to manually move them within the fAnPoSt creation window. It also inserts links which say "via theworldsstrongestman.com," which must be manually deleted (I left one as an example). Simple img src coding seems to be useless for images within FAnpoSts (not the same as the comment images, which are as they always were). Very frustrating. I'm guessing this is because fAnpoSts are set up like front page stories, where you'd want images to become sbn assets. But it has the effect of making placing images in simple FAnposTS maddening.
4. One apparently cannot manipulate text (bold, underline, etc) within a blockquote. I tried both manually and with buttons on the words "rental car" in the box below; no dice.
5. There is no 5.
6. There's probably other ways of doing this, which leads me to the next bug: You can either use the buttons with their limitations, or be an uber-savvy user like Apricot or Zonis...and nothing in between. Probably 95% of FanpOsT writers are something in between, and the new system for composing thwarts and mocks us. It was better when the DIARY preview told me if I'd made an HTML error, and then I could try and figure it out. Now, stuff just works or it doesn't; no explanation or education. I've now wearied of many previews and I'm posting it, knowing it's been far more difficult than the more complex DLDs I've done in the past. And uglier, too.
7. Apricot cleverly titled his DLD “There’s too much confusion here,” yet no one replied that they can’t get no relief.
Let me echo another thing others have said: the level of tech responsiveness on this upgrade has been fantastic. I remain unconvinced that the hipster look and new tricks are worth tearing down stuff that already worked well. But the responsiveness now is everything that the excruciating 2.0 upgrade was not.
Links:
1. When art cars die. Alameda Aphid finds Cecile and Alexia’s bejeweled Tercel in the junkyard.
2. I bet this car has some serious bugs: Amphibious car…a convertible, no less! You breathe through a scuba-type apparatus.
3. Maybe this is relevant: the Freakonomics blog asks whether social networking by internet is good or bad for society.
4. Crime? In Oakland? Mooooo! This is an awesome tool: The Oakland Crimespotting website takes crime reports and lets you overlay them on Google maps. They just got back up online, so the data repopulating will take some time, but check out this plot of crimes in the Coliseum area over the last month or so. The BART lot don’t look so bad!
5. Arizona hot, Florida not in the spring training turf wars, says the New York Times’ Murray Chass, as more teams defect to the Valley of the Sun.
Using a surtax on rental cars, Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, raised revenue to help build new parks or renovate older ones. That set the tone for subsequent developments.
(see what I did right there?)
6. Ex-St. Louis Ram player Willie Gary is suing the New England Patriots for $100 million for cheating him out of the 2002 Super Bowl. I lost money on that game too; can we make it a class action?
7. Need more cars. I’ve just aimlessly watched a little World’s Strongest Man on TV, so how about…the car walk! 
via www.theworldsstrongestman.com
8. Or even better: all life is suffering, and lifting cars is as valid a path to enlightenment as any other. 
Dump my bug car…now!
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Goddamn it!
Argh! Published it, and then learned that none of the links worked! Turns out my hand-coding in Word of a href etc etc does not in fact work, even though in Preview it displays the text in link-like fashion. So I had to edit (which, BTW, you have to go to your individual user page list of fanposts to do) each link, using the buttons provided.
Again, the system works for the very very basic or highly skilled users; not so much for us in the fat part of the curve.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 1:43 AM PST reply actions
there should've been an 'edit' link just below your published fanpost
but yer right that you can go to your dashboard or the 'manage fanposts' link in the sidebar menu to find all your fanposts to edit them
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 16, 2008 6:59 AM PST up reply actions
Perhaps I missed the edit link you speak of
I think a reconsideration of the whole preview window is in order. In AN 1.0 (as I recall) you could easily and substantially edit draft diaries from the preview page. In 2.0 this became somewhat harder, but doable. And now you can't make corrections unless you exit the Preview window completely, which defeats much of the purpose.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:44 AM PST up reply actions
Re: Bug 1 : I like to see lots of faNPoSts on my front page...
Fixed this one for ya!
I'm one of the guys who built the new SB Nation
Thanks, that's much better
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:45 AM PST up reply actions
I'd like to thank my teammates
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:06 PM PST up reply actions
Hey!
That was supposed to include the pithy aside [cashes in at 2/1], but with < > instead of [ ]. It's all falling apart!!!
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:08 PM PST up reply actions
Baseball Prospectus projects A's
finishing in second place in the AL West, behind the Angels. Interestingly,it projects the Mariners finishing in last place. I can't say I agree with either projection, but thought it was worth linking here. (Also it gives me a chance to see if I can link with this new format.)
link in longhand, in case I can't figure out how to do it more prettily in our new format:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/index.php?&affiliate=3
I'm not a BP subscriber so can't access any more details. If anyone is a subscriber and cares to summarize some of the details that would be great.
I used the link thingy but it didn't work
this little learning curve hopefully won't last too long...it kind of depresses enthusiasm for participating...
Link button's not so bad
and hopefully you'll get used to it soon enough.
Write the text which you want readers to see to serve as the link. My example: Owners kicking players' butts in arbitration, up 4-0.
Then select/highlight that text with your mouse. Then copy the URL of the page you want to link to (which perhaps you have open in another tab or window, or if doing lots of links, perhaps you have previously copied to a Word document).
Then click the link button. A small dialog window opens; paste the URL you copied into that box, and click OK. And it works like so:
Owners kicking players' butts in arbitration, up 4-0.
The big tricks are to remember to copy your URL before trying the link button, and to select exactly the text you want to be serve as the lnk for your readers.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:56 AM PST up reply actions
I like to use the link button thusly:
When I get to the point in my text where I want the linked text to appear -- but before I actually type the text to be linked -- I hit the "link" button: the dialog box comes up, I paste the URL in the window, hit OK; then when you return to your post-a-comment box, the cursor automatically sits in the embedded link, and you can type the text you want linked. (You then have to forward the cursor past the closing tag to continue typing non-linked text.)
Same approach (but without the URL dialog box) works with the other buttons.
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
thanks, let me try
when I click the link button "paste' in my browser grays out. This happened the first time, so I wrote in the url manually (very carefully, I did it correctly) but it didn't work.
it didn't insert the link?
even after you manually wrote the URL and clicked OK in the window that popped up?
what browser/OS are you using?
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 16, 2008 11:43 AM PST up reply actions
firefox
let me try again:
oh good, this time it works!
(no idea why I have to manually type in the URL)
interesting
I get the same thing when I open the edit menu in FF after opening the link insert window. everything is grayed out. that's lame.
if you use the keyboard shortcut for pasting - ctrl-V (or command-V on mac) - does it paste in there for you?
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 16, 2008 12:20 PM PST up reply actions
let me try
worked...but also, this time FF didn't gray out anoything...very strange.
Also, I'm having trouble seeing new posts in threads...they were very easy to spot before. What should I be looking for?
thanks!
new comments should have a yellow background
do you see that when you open a thread that should have new comments in it?
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 17, 2008 11:59 AM PST up reply actions
I'm not a fan of the fast-fading yellow
I get that it works together with the C key method of tabbing to new posts, but the yellow fades so fast I sometimes miss the new posts I'm looking for, especially if I start at the end of a thread and work up, as I often do. A longer-lasting yellow, like perhaps for as long as you have the thread opened, works better IMHO.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 12:18 PM PST up reply actions
we're working on that right now!
we'll have an update to comments shortly. thanks to everyone for giving us great feedback as we tweak this new system.
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 17, 2008 12:48 PM PST up reply actions
wow, so the top two projection systems
have the A's winning the division.
Would someone with a BP Subscription care to give us just the AL West line?
PECOTA sez:
Sorry in advance for the poor formatting.
TEAM W L RS RA
Los Angeles Angels 89 73 810 728
Oakland Athletics 78 84 732 758
Texas Rangers 74 88 788 861
Seattle Mariners 73 89 691 771
I will recommend your DLD
both for its quality and for the patience you've shown in assembling it.
Maybe if Monkeyball's suggestion of the Coliseum sleepover for the Japan games bears fruit, one of the special features can be AN 3.0 Instructional Clinic; BYOL.
Did you hear we signed Keith Foulke?
as I've often said ...
... every time I go to the Coliseum, I BMOL -- grilled at home, with high-quality storebought or homemade buns -- and I steal Lew's condiments.
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
Calero had rotator cuff surgery?
I know Kiko had shoulder problems all last season, and was shut down before the season ended. But this is the first I've read that he actually had surgery:
Calero on own schedule: Reliever Kiko Calero, coming off rotator cuff surgery, is working out at Papago Park, but isn't yet throwing with the other pitchers."He's on his own throwing program," Geren said. "He's going to be behind as far as mound time."
.
I'll take "Guys Who Should Never Have Been Resigned" for $200, Alex.
The A's colors are green and gold.
Sadly,
he was signed for more than $200.
by Philip Christy on Feb 16, 2008 3:39 PM PST up reply actions
The answer is...
He enjoyed his finest season with the A's, signing as a free agent with the Red Sox following the 2003 season.
It's Rhodes Scholar Night at the Coliseum tonight.
Or maybe not
Calero had the tear confirmed during the winter by New York Mets team doctor David Altchek. Calero was told surgery would sideline him a full year, so he opted to rehab the injury at home in Puerto Rico without surgery."I think I did the right thing," Calero said. "It's not the right time in my career for surgery. I'm 33 years old. If I take surgery, I'll be 34. You never know how it's going to work."
stat-addled alien overlord
spring training has barely started
and already there's misinformation. Mark Thomas of MLB.com wrote the article claiming that Calero had had the surgery (the article made it sound like the information came from Geren). Yet Calero clearly said he decided NOT to get the surgery.
Seems like that's something you'd want to confirm firsthand, before publishing it.
Sticking with the bug theme...
here's a travel bug cache that made it to an A's game in 2005.
Dark Chocolate Truffle
Stomper's got the fly moves
Them other mascots get left in the dust.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 16, 2008 9:04 PM PST up reply actions
I love bitching
So here's a request to the debuggers to fix the profile pages. On 2.0, it was one of the most useful pages we had, because we could see a list of our own comments--along with the following important data: "Number of Replies: X" We're trying to have conversations here, but it's a lot easier to do so when we can quickly check to see if anybody's responded to anything we said. Gotta get that back.
Also, could I have my username back? I'm sure it's a bug that deprived me of it--you can't possibly be telling me that somebody else in SB Nation has the handle "rubin sierra." I mean, I don't even spell it right.
Brainless Automaton #439
we hear ya
We'll bring back the comments page ASAP. We realize we dropped the ball on that.
I'll look into the username thing for you, but I need a few a clues to dig into the problem. Did you create your new SB Nation network account before claiming your old blog account? Because it looks like you claimed your old blog account - I'm not sure why it wouldn't have let you use that username. Did you sign up for an account on any other SB Nation blogs w/ that username?
Meanwhile, I'll take a look behind the curtain to see if we can figure any of this out for you.
I'm one of the guys that built the new SB Nation
by Trei Brundrett on Feb 17, 2008 7:29 AM PST up reply actions
good to hear back from you so quickly!
I don't remember signing up for an account on any other SB Nation blogs ... this is what I remember happening: I was going through the process of claiming my old account and signing up for my new one, and when I clicked "sign up" or whatever I got the prompt: "We are now signing you up ... this make take a few minutes, esp. if you have multiple SB Nation accounts" ... the clock would spin for a minute or so, and then it would stop spinning, and the screen would remain there, unchanged. So for 12 hours or so, I couldn't sign up, period. I don't remember at what point during this period I remember the computer starting to tell me that the name "rubin sierra" was taken. But ultimately, by the time it finally did let me sign up, I had accepted that the name was taken and had changed my name
Brainless Automaton #439
by rubin sierra on Feb 17, 2008 10:29 AM PST up reply actions
headed to cisco field?
Despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming.
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
Meet Don Wakamatsu!
Todays' Chron has a nice Susun Slusser feature article introducing new A's bench coach Don Wakamatsu. Tons of good stuff here, including:
* He's widely believed to be in line to become the first big league manager of Asian heritage.
* He's from Hayward, played on nine straight championship teams in football, basketball and baseball at Hayward High, including an undefeated football team as a teammate of Jack Del Rio, who is now head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
* Jack Del Rio is a lifelong A's fan.
* Wakamatsu went to Arizona State and was a teammate of Barry Bonds, about which he says: "It was one of those love-hate things. I loved watching the things he could do and I hated lockering next to him." (the latter because of his own jealousy, claims Don, and not his neighbor's recliner or buttheadishness issues).
* Billy Beane has long admired Buck Showalter's managerial style (gag), and had wanted "Wak" on staff for several years to bring some of the Buck touch to Oakland. Yeah, um...
* Wakamatsu's grandparents have a unique WW2 internship story. Don explains:
"I asked them about the camps and living in the barracks," he said. "They said, 'This house is made of barracks.' I said, 'What?' When they were let out of the camp, (former inmates) were allowed to buy the buildings, so my grandparents bought two, put them together and added windows."How ironic - they had 48 hours to relocate, they were imprisoned for years and then they chose to live the rest of their lives in the same buildings.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 9:11 AM PST reply actions
That was a great article
I hope Wak gets to manage the A's some day.
Also from the Chron, Keiichi Yabu tries for a comeback at age 39 after pitching in Mexico, working out in San Jose, and throwing in his back yard in San Mateo. Gambatte, Yabu-san!
And also on the Gnats side, they make a pathetic attempt to win GnGG's affections :
In another show of unity, all of the starting pitchers and some relievers plan to wear black stirrups over their socks, like players of yore. "Personally, I like the look. It's classic, old-school," said Lincecum, who wore stirrups in high school. Equipment manager Mike Murphy had to scrounge some from the minor-league camp
by Englishmajor on Feb 17, 2008 11:17 AM PST up reply actions
I read that last bit as
throwing his back out in San Mateo and thinking... sign him, he'd fit right in!
In search of a new signature. Say something funny and you may see your comment here!
The Chron's making Ratto work harder for his money
As they once again have him on beat reporter duty for the A's. He filed today's A's notes column, which observes:
* Blanton's throwing Double Live Platinum bullpen sessions as he gears up for his start in the Japan opener. Actually, Geren calls them "Extended Live Bullpens," but I like my phrase better. Anyway, they feature a 30 pitch warmup, and two 20 pitch innings with live hitters who don't swing bats.
* Geren's making the signs harder...I'm thinking this is the real reason they dealt Swisher.
* The grey-haired eminence that is Matt LeCroy is in camp early, as is Emil "Money" Brown.
* A bunch of guys without any leverage at all signed the deals they were given, and liked it, including DJ, Hannahan, Denorfia, and the best typo of the youn spring season thus far, "Travis Bick." You talkin to me? You talking to me?!
* Henry Rodriguez has left Venezuela and is en route, Santiago Cassila is still in the DR, and no one knows anything new about Angel Garcia.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 9:27 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Heh Heh
Swisher was the first person I thought of when I read about the new sighs.
"Don't be an ass!" --Bill King
sighs doesn't matter
oh, you meant "signs".
"Oakland has now increased its payroll to the point that it now ranks third in the Bay Area among all McDonald's franchises.”
-Sandy Alderson, former A’s general manager.
I don't know...
sighs may be right. After watching Cust drop another routine fly ball, Swisher would likely be the first person we think of with each new sigh.
In search of a new signature. Say something funny and you may see your comment here!
Will Travis Bick be part of the A's taxi squad?
Obscure cinematic history theory: De Niro/Scorsese may have lifted the "You talkin' to me?" bit from De Palma's Greetings (also starring De Niro, though the line is spoken by ... De Palma himself in an unbilled cameo).
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
when Blanton arrives in Japan, they should have him warm up at Budokan
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
We'll start calling him
Chanko-nabe-chan instead of Cupcakes.
by Englishmajor on Feb 17, 2008 12:52 PM PST up reply actions
Hmmm
The word "chan" (regional dialect for "father") was conflated with "nabe," the name for one-pot meals often served at the table.
So, would the AN translation of that be "hattebergpostgamespread"?
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
"Blanton threw to almost live hitters "
So ... pitchers opposing the A's during the regular season will all be throwing "extended live bullpens," too?
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
"Almost live hitters"?
I thought we'd seen the last of the Larry Davis approach to medicine.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 10:54 AM PST up reply actions
an honest question
What, exactly, will Larry be doing in his new sinecure?
If Congress/Selig/T-men really wanted to get the inside dope on the legacy of PEDs in MLB, they'd invite Larry up for a chat in front of the cameras.
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
My running assumption has been that
that's exactly why Larry has been able to hang on to a job for so long. He knows in whose asses all the needles were buried.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:53 PM PST up reply actions
My running assumption has been that
that's exactly why Larry has been able to hang on to a job for so long. He knows in whose asses all the needles were buried.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:53 PM PST up reply actions
Drat, commentus interruptus!
the body of the comment didn't post, the title did, yet I reverted to the comment preview dialog, leading to the double post, both incomplete. What I tried to say was:
that is exactly why Larry continues to keep a job. He knows in whose asses the needles were buried.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:55 PM PST up reply actions
Drat, commentus interruptus!
the body of the comment didn't post, the title did, yet I reverted to the comment preview dialog, leading to the double post, both incomplete. What I tried to say was:
that is exactly why Larry continues to keep a job. He knows in whose asses the needles were buried.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:56 PM PST up reply actions
OK, the body of the comment didn't post, the title did, yet I reverted to the comment preview dialog, leading to the double post, both incomplete. What I tried to say was:
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:56 PM PST up reply actions
that's exactly how LD has been able to keep a job: he knows in whose asses the needles were buried.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 2:57 PM PST up reply actions
Bizarre
After hitting post button comments posted with titles only, no text inside, then also reverted to the comment preview dialog. I got my message through via titles only, left the page, then came back and found the comments intact. Leading to the odd-looking Cutthemullet-style chain of self replies above. At least I'm padding my weekend DLD stats...you know, if you're into that sort of thing.
There is an A in Whimsy.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Feb 17, 2008 3:14 PM PST up reply actions
Oh mother all that is sacred....
could it be that clockwerks....is Larry Davis?
"You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."--The Boys of Summer
I guess it's an improvement from
"plasma poured into uniforms" – as Beane was quoted saying he was seeking last May to replace the every-growing Dl-ed players...
this is a bad sign
Emil Brown popped up in camp Saturday
He's popping up even before he sees almost-live pitching?
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
Minor league Rule 5 draftee
Basically a live arm who they hope might develop some control at some point.
Actually, that would describe pretty much all three of the guys the team picked up in the minor league Rule 5 draft. (Oddly, however, not the guy they got for the major league squad.)
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
ray ratto on jeremy brown
Brown, 28, the A's top draft pick in 2002 and the focus of a fair chunk of Michael Lewis' successful baseball book on the A's and the changing nature of the sport...
the a's top draft pick??
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
fake kyle kendrick trade video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPB9IglzxG8
when can we embed videos again?
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
embeds work in (front-page) stories!
I haven't tried to embed one in a comment or a sidebar fanpost.
Even if they're clever, they become stupid with repetition. @('.')@
The stupidity of black uniforms, cont'd.
Dear U$C: Black is not one of your colors!!!
(LA Times photo from last night's UCLA-USC game)
by Soaker on Feb 18, 2008 11:27 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
it was a lame nike promotion.
the uniform didn't look bad (imo, much more pleasant on the eyes than the mustard yellow ones), but the situation in which it was presented was kind of sad. basically, it was nike advertising a shoe. they gave out these black shirts with a huge shoe and like 25 swooshes on it to the to the student body... it was kind of pathetic.
that said, sc athletics is kind of predicated on these things.
and the fashion in which the game was lost was really really bad.
"The hard... is what makes it great."
From the official website ...
Geren comments on Henry Rodriguez:
"He's supposed to be an incredible talent," Geren said. "He's supposed to throw up close to 100 [mph]."
I'm the same way with tequila.
HOLY CRAP!
Where is Sharon? Jason Taylor is going to be on Dancing with the Stars. I might actually watch this year.
"Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies."
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