Of course I’ve been designing websites forever. There is a bunch of web stuff I will do and a whole lot more that I won’t. Too much of the junk out there is junk and I think you know what I mean. One of the better web ideas to come along that doesn’t give me a headache is Wordpress. Now that I have been working with Wordpress I can say it is the best blogging app out there. If you’re reading this then you are looking at my blog which is my own design. I also host it myself but Wordpress will even let you have a free blog. 

WordPress 2.7 was just released and is available as a free download. If you’re going to do it yourself instead of getting me then as with any major release of WordPress, you should check all your important plugins and make sure they are compatible (there were enough serious changes in this version for many not to be without an update). As always, sometimes it’s better to wait a week or two to upgrade as there will most likely be a WordPress 2.7.1 version right around the corner to catch some fixes or security holes caught after it hits the mainstream user base. Also allows plugin creators time to get their plugins updated and make sure they work with the final release of 2.7.

When it comes to the made up world of the internet and domain ownership it is great to know that being a rebel is still possible. Personally I own quite a few domain names, some of them in use and in dispute. I say dispute only to sound like a rebel myself. I haven’t registered any domain names in over a year so I’d say I’m new to the process. When the internet has passed you by for a year believe me, you have to relearn it. I recently transferred my domain dr914.com from Network Solutions to GoDaddy.com due to NetSol’s increasing price. If you own more than two or three domain names it gets to be a real expense. One that I wonder often how anyone makes any money doing, though I read about money making often by buying and selling domains.

Domain registrar Rebel.com recently launched MyRebel.com, a new service that allows domainers to all but officially become an ICANN-accredited registrar. Previously this has been unheard of. Users of the service gain registrar-level control over their domains including all the registry commands that are normally reserved for the registrar. 

The company is clearly banking on the service taking off by giving domainers more control and better pricing over domain names. Some of the perks that come with being a virtual registrar include registrar-level pricing, security checks to prevent domains from being transferred or deleted without approval, and command-line control over domains, including those to register, delete, and transfer domains. Users also are given access to all registry emails and notifications. Of course I can’t help but wonder how much control myrebel.com feels they have over the matter.

Consider you are on the register’s side of the matter and someone tries to claim ownership. This is something I have lost sleep over. How do you figure out who really owns the name and what they can do with it or about it. One of my domains I’m trying to sell is techefx.com. What if some company crawls out of the woodwork and tries to claim that name as their own. Afterall, I did buy this name when the company formerly using it let it lapse and did not renew the domain registration. Just because I bought it – does that mean I own it outright or do they have some legal claim?

Near Atlanta Georgia there has been a restaurant that has changed hands a few times called The 57th Fighter Group. It is located near a small single runway airport and the restaurant is set back from the road so you can’t see it. Then as you drive up to the building you start noticing broken down WWII jeeps and trucks and as you round the corner you arrive in this bunker like atmosphere with WWII planes surrounding the building, foxholes about and even a gunner tower. The feeling is one of entering a Universal Studio’s ride or scenery set, only this restaurant has been here for 30 years.

Recently I wanted to reconnect with that childhood memory of going to the 57th and found out that there are these types of restaurants all over the country. They are not owned by the same company but they all strangely have the same type of theme and are all located at small airports. For example there is a 356th Fighter Group in Canton, Ohio. In Long Island, New York there is a 56th Fighter Group. In Van Nuys, CA there is a 94th Aero Squadron and so on. I haven’t yet found any WWI, Korea or Vietnam styled eateries. Certainly no Kuwait or Iraq restaurant with drone planes littering the outside lawn. 

We have so few ways of suspending our disbelief that it just started to amaze me the only environment I was able to enter was that of overseas WWII. I’m sure it is because that war seems so romantic to us as a Nation looking back on what seems like a nice tour of Europe for most soldiers. I wish there were more movie sets I could dine in. One can already go to Alcatraz in San Francisco and take a tour of the prison. I wonder if it would add to the experience being served in the cafeteria with real prison food. I’ll bet plenty of people would plop down $50/head for that added treat.

Looks like our buddies at IMDb aka Internet Movie Database is getting into the widget game. (In case you don’t know by now, widgets are “portable chunks of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by the end user without requiring additional compilation” – see Wikipedia for more info.)

Recently I took on a challenge to fill a canvas bank bag with pennies. The first thing I learned is that the United States never made a penny they make cents. So I’ve been using the wrong word all of my life. I also found out, according to the NY Times, that it costs more than a cent to make a cent. Almost 2¢ in fact and it also costs 7¢ to make a nickel. Before 1982 a cent weighed 3.11 grams and after 1982 has weighed 2.5 grams. So that makes it a bit difficult to say what is in my canvas bag of cents. Let’s also note that a cent is currently made of 99.2% zinc and 0.8% copper. So that also make it hard to say what my bag is worth by way of zinc and copper content. But then you have to realize that say 2000 cents would not be worth $20 worth of materials and even if the cent was 100% copper, who would buy just $20 worth of copper.

I have also learned that it is a Federal crime to melt down American coins. The fine is $10,000. One wonders if I melted down my canvas bag of cents would I be prosecuted? On the other hand could I just sell my cents by the pound to say China and then let them melt it down. After all my 1¢ coins have 2¢ worth of material in them. Wouldn’t this be worth it to me? I could say that the buyer was a “collector.” I can’t control what is done once I sell them. Ah! Can I sell an American coin? That too is against the law though I see people selling collectible coins every day for more than their face value.

I loathe fake crap as much as the next fanatic. But my love of movies forces me to write something about the “drive-in” in Manhattan’s lower east side. I know people my age are desperate for nostalgia, but come on … a one car drive-in? Talk about contrived. This thing is located at 215 East 4th Street which is between Avenues A & B. Inside this tiny store front is parked a 1965 Ford Falcon. As if all of this doesn’t sound artsy enough for you then add in the concession stand and the fact that you have to book this experience at $75 per showing. Seating for six.

Being prolific has never really been hard for me. Now, getting people to read that’s another story. At one time I could boast a 15,000-20,000 readership. Today – me. And, no I didn’t write all the scripts in the photo posted above. If I had written them all I would be over 100 and dead from my hands screaming at me.

So ultimately no one owns a domain name except ICANN which stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Whew! Apparently they are the “Big Brother” of the internet and the ones with the government behind them. That basically means they can kick your ass whenever they want and all you can do is suck it! Cool. I wish I had that power.