12 Witnesses

So, I missed Phriday foto yesterday and today, between working on the power point for my sermon and playing frisbee with my daughter, I thought I would check out this new Web Browser, Flock. I am very interested.

I know, I know. I just got everyone to switch to Firefox!

True enough, but Flock is actually made by the folks that made Firefox, so I though I would check it out. The thing about Flock is that it is made for Social networking. Your Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Photobucket, Magnolia… yes even Twitter… automatically plugs in to the sidebar application in Flock, so you the browser automatically interacts with whatever you are browsing.

It has a media tool bar, a feed reader and some other interesting gadgets I am exploring.

This post is a test of the blog post interaction. I have several ways to post what I am looking at from Flock. This is a picture I took in Vietnam of some future Soccer stars. The downside is that, although it allows tags, it does not post the tags to wordpress but embeds them in the post, it does not allow for me to post in a category you can choose only one category as you get ready to post or do any of the other SEO stuff I have been stressing lately. That means I’ll have to go back in the admin panel and fix it after it is published.

It does have a save draft function, but I am unsure if it saves it in Flock or to my blog. I’ll try and see… Nope. Save it to Flock, so I have to publish it and then rework the backside for Search Engines.

Also, since this is a picture from my flickr account, flickr will get the link rather than when I host it on my own server.

Nevertheless, while blogging from Flock may not be ideal, social networking through Flock seems promising. I have added all of my flickr contacts to “favorites” in the media bar, and when they post new pics, it will let me know with an orange media button and I can click it and surf.

Oh, it also has an rss feed button that will find the feed of whatever site you are in and let you click it to subscribe. The drawback is that you must subscribe in Flock rather than Bloglines, Google Reader, or whatever else you are using. I think this is true. I’ll look for a way to change the subscription default.

Anyway, check it out. You might like it.

Tags: foto, pic, picture, vietnam, soccer

Last week I took some pictures in a near full moon. If you like these, you can find more on my photoblog.

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Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

Be on the lookout for a massive Link Load coming today and if you like these fotos, you can see more on my Photoblog.

Today I am combining several things into one mighty Phriday foto: My tech series on blogging and Wordpress, my pictures, my trip to Vietnam and a tribute to Joe Kennedy, whose photography I love - especially the pictures of food. No. Not because its food and I’m fat. Because of the texture, perspectives and colors.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

So, I am uploading these pictures, after compressing them with Faststone freeware image viewer as mentioned in Better Blogging: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), with Wordpress 2.5 media uploader. The media uploader was giving me some problems, but David Phillips helped me to to install the Flexible Upload plugin and that has settled it down. It only works on pictures though, but if I were uploading video or audio (the other options) I would use Podpress, so I don’t need it for anything else. *Note to David, who is very busy - I’m not tinkering. I promise.

One of the options of the Media Uploader is that you can insert several images and it will create thumbnails and an intermediate picture. The other option, on display here today, is the insert gallery function, which will create a gallery of thumbnails through which you can navigate, like a mini-photoblog on your post.

Rather than give you the rundown myself on how to do it, I’ll link to Matt Mullenweg, a fellow Houstonian living elsewhere in the world (California, where there is no decent BBQ), telling you all about Wordpress 2.5 media upload at WordPress.org. PS - Matt is one of the first ever bloggers and is (one of) the creator(s) of Wordpress, which is to say, he’s had some help, but he is the primary cause of its existence. He might know what he’s talking about.

So here it is a picture gallery of food from Vietnam, created in Wordpress 2.5: (click on a thumbnail for the full size picture)

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Since I gave you a Phriday foto a day early and it wasn’t even really my pic, I’ll give you one that is.

This is a Hmong Girl tending the fire at a restaurant in Sapa, Lao Cai, Vietnam. I took it on our last night in Sapa when we dined with another church who was there working with the Red Dao People at Ta Phin.

You can find more of my pictures at my photoblog.

This isn’t my pic, but I thought it was hilarious. Apparently, technology has caught up with certain makers of Laderhosen, where they have installed iPod controls in the pants leg. Fun.

Check out the full story here:

IFA2007: Fingers-On with the MP3 Lederhosen and Hunting Jacket

Or you can catch a few of my pictures on my photoblog.

The view when standing and talking among friends in Sapa, Lao Cai, Vietnam.

Check some of my other photography at my photoblog.

You can check out more pictures on my photoblog.

Steeples

Of course, the “Christian Scientists” have their non-steepled effort…

Just so you know, I’m not the “every church must have a steeple” guy. Ours has a peaked roof with stained glass in the peak. It’s pretty and it’s unique.

Before I post the pictures, allow me to explain the comment section. Apparently, I need to upgrade my Wordpress software because there is a format conflict that is causing all of my comments to disappear. They are still there, but the software can’t seem to read them. Thanks to Bluehost Tech Support for figuring that out, and thanks in advance to David Phillips for the help in getting everything up to snuff. As of the moment, the comments are registering their presence, even on the post, but you can’t see them and neither can I, even behind the scenes. We’ll try to get them up soon.

These pictures and more at my photoblog.

The Circle Cinema near downtown Tulsa.

Whittier Square - you can see the Cinema above through the arch…

These and more pics at my photoblog.

Legendary Cain’s Ballroom.

Hard to find parking downtown.

For these and more pictures, be sure to check out my photoblog.

In the hallway at St. John’s Hospital.

The hidden Chapel you could almost miss.