Pennsylvania AR-15-oh!

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments
No trombones here: This is a solo for black rifle.

That wasn’t a Glenn Miller big-band number they heard yesterday at the rally in Pennsylvania.

Those folks were dancing to another sort of tune altogether. The Black Rifle Boogie.

As has become traditional, before the echoes of the gunfire faded, the Keyboard Kommandos Rapid Response Team — “Last to Know, First to Blow, We Will Defend to the Death Our Right to Remain Misinformed” — instantly let fly in all directions at once.

I do not intend to do that here, beyond observing that when one has a country full of cuckoos and bang-bangs the two are liable to find each other. Frankly, given the prevailing political conditions, I’m astonished it took this long for them to come together and make music.

You’re listening to the Armed Propaganda Network. Don’t touch that dial!

It’s number one with a bullet.

Block editor

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 13 Comments
Once more around the block.

Some of yis have noticed that commenting via Safari seems to have been restored, all praise to Cthulhu, may Its tentacles grow ever longer.

Last night I heard from a code wrangler at Automattic who advised thusly:

This issue has been forwarded to our development team. I cannot give a time frame on when the issue will be fixed but a workaround is to disable “blocks in comments.”

Huzzah, etc. Remember the last time we had trouble with comments? How it forced me into finally abandoning the Classic Editor for the Block Editor, and changing themes to boot?

Yet now, here we are again. Because not only are comments buggered without the workaround, pending a solution from the development team, it could be that the advanced age of my current “new” theme, Penscratch 2, may be part of the problem.

Thus, a tip of the Mad Dog Safari Hat goes out to our own Steve O’, who suggested as much in — wait for it — comments.

Meanwhile, cheers to Jason the Code Wrangler for kicking this thing up the chain of command and recommending the workaround, which works.

While we await the Wisdom from On High I may slap a new coat of theme on an old blog and ask you Safari users to try commenting there. Steve O’ and Pat O’B have been able to comment on this junkpile, which runs on Independent Publisher 2, but I think that theme is a tad long in the tooth as well.

Freedom

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 26 Comments
White-line fever.

Alissa Bell has a fine piece about becoming a cyclist at The Cycling Independent.

She’s actually been one for quite a spell, and logged plenty of the hard miles, not just in the Benighted States of America but in places some hardcore cyclists will never straddle a top tube, like Vietnam, Egypt, and Sudan.

But Bell says she really started feeling like a cyclist when she began “riding less, but more intentionally.” She continues:

Riding my bike is the closest I’ll ever get to pausing time. As long as I’m in the saddle (or hiking beside if need be) there is time to think, to feel, to let the knots in my mind relax enough that there is hope of untangling them later. Whether for two hours or two months, cycling gives me a break from the relentless pace of a life that’s always been a little too fast for me. 

How does one stop The Machine? By starting another one. Go read the whole piece. It’s liberating.

Is this thing on?

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 5 Comments

While we await the wisdom of the WordPress Wizards, SAO — one of our longtime readers who can still post comments — suggests that the Dog Blog’s theme, Penscratch 2, may be at least part of the problem.

Penscratch 2 is an old theme — not as old as its predecessor, Kubrick — but still, plenty of white hair in its ears and a stoop to its bony shoulders, plus it seems to have forgotten where it left its keys to the comments. Also, it may have shit the bed.

So, while we wait — and wait, and wait, annnnnnnnnnnnd wait —I need someone who is still unable to comment using Safari, DuckDuckGo, or whatever to try adding a comment to the most recent post, “Age limits,” at this unused blog, which runs the Independent Publisher 2 theme.

Thanks in advance. More as we learn it.

Baking with WordPress

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments
We had apricot crisp for dessert last night. WordPress says you lot need cookies.

OK, I finally heard back from the Wizards about the comments issue. They advise thusly:

Please ask your readers to check if third-party cookies are enabled. If not, enable them. Here are the steps you need to follow: In the Safari app on your Mac, navigate to Safari → Preferences → Advanced, then unselect “Block all cookies.” Here is our guide to check and disable/enable third-party cookies.

I’ve asked whether this is a new thing, since this is the first time the comments issue has been so widespread. More as I hear it.

So, yeah. If anyone wants to give that a go, have at it with my compliments. In the meantime, if you have fresh intel, new questions, or just want to vent, you can reach me at maddogmedia (at) the Fabulous GeeMail (dot) com.