So many islands, so little time

joe.weblog.or.id

If all worked, then this post should be on my new site!

Switching to my new domain

I'm getting ready to move over to my new domain. If you wind up on this site http://radio.weblogs.com/0103361 and are wondering why it's stale, I've moved to http://joe.weblog.or.id . If all works out right, you'll be automatically redirected to my new site. At the suggestion of our man Lawrence, I've added a create a meta redirect that looks something like this:

You have to replace the < strings with a <

Here's hoping this works!

Jakarta on Trial

Mother Jones, not my favorite publications, has the following:

"Indonesian prosecutors are asking that the son of former dictator Suharto be given a 15-year prison sentence for his role in the murder of a Supreme Court justice. The BBC reports that prosecutors were entitled to seek the death sentence against Tommy Suharto, and that their decision to seek a more lenient penalty is being attacked as a political fix -- particularly since judges in Indonesia routinely impose sentences even more lenient than those requested by prosecutors. Antara reports that, after calling for the 15-year sentence, prosecutors quickly left the court by a back door, refusing to comment on their decision. Prosecutors reportedly cited several "mitigating factors" during their court appearance, among them Tommy Suharto's good behavior since being captured and the fact that he has a family to support. While the prosecutors involved in the case were tight-lipped, The Jakarta Post reports that the city's chief prosecutor described the sentence as "sufficient for the four charges." The sentencing is not the only thing raising eyebrows, either. Bill Guerin of the Asia Times writes that Tommy Suharto isn't exactly suffering while in jail. The former millionaire playboy's cell is fenced off from the rest of the prison and includes a private bathroom, a 21-inch television, cellular phones -- luxuries which Guerin says "no doubt create conducive conditions for his frequent five-hour conjugal visits." The court's ruling, Guerin reports, holds special importance for Indonesia. "This is a battle between good and evil," a prosecutor explains. "If you can't put him in jail, don't talk about reform anymore." " [via Moreover]

Indonesia's unreformed military

An editorial from the NY Times

Weblog software platform

One of the key decisions that I'm facing is what software to use for weblogs.or.id. Radio is out, sorry Dave. A huge percentage of internet users in Indonesia use internet cafes (warnets) so we need a tool that is server based. Some possibilities are: Manila, MT, Drupal, Greymatter, Pitas, B2, LiveJournal, etc.. What others should I consider? I'm trying to draw up my criteria right now. Here's the short list, lots of this is obvious stuff. Sorry for the somewhat random order:

Server based (user data stored on server, editing via any internet cafe)
OSS prefered (I'd like to gather together a very small team on this side of the world that can contribute)
In active development (no dead tools that I have to revive)
RSS/synication
Blogger/metaweblog APIs support
themes/templates
Standard weblog format (calendar, dated entries, reverse chrono, ???)
categories
automatic archiving
commenting
support for multiple authors (would be nice)

I'll think of lots more. The choices are a little overwhelming. I don't want to make the wrong choice, but I do want to choose.

Cause for great cheering by my daughters

Disney Channel Launches in Indonesia. At least some members in our house are very, very happy. Happily there is no "Boy meet world"! This is a good thing since we've seen every episode ad nauseum, thanks to my second oldest.

Indonesian weblog hosting site

As I hinted at a few days ago, I'm getting ready to launch a weblog hosting site focused on Indonesian webloggers. The site will be located on a server on the IIX and will be localized into Indonesian. The goal is to encourage self-publishing on the web in Indonesian about things relevant to Indonesians. A significant sub-goal is to foster healthy communication between members of various people groups and religions in Indonesia. It will be located at www.weblog.or.id. Right now that is just a static page, but soon (a month or two?) it will be the jumping off point for Indonesian webloggers

Taxes! Yes, in July

I'm just starting my taxes. Yes, I am a procrastinator. Living overseas buys me some extra time, an automatic extention until August. Here I go to the TurboTax website.

Update on Dell fiasco

To be fair I'm updating you on my problems with Dell. The next day I received a call from a Dell representative regarding my problems. He called while I was watching Minority Report with my boys, great movie. I didn't answer the call, but we called back several times trying to get a hold of me, nice. We finally connected later that evening, after normal work hours. He was very apologetic and promised that my problems would be addressed. He said that they understood they had support quality problems with some of SE Asia. He said if that I live in Singapore or Malaysia, these problems wouldn't have occurred. Sounds like they are outsourcing their support for some of SE Asia (including Indonesia) through someone in India. My battery and mini-PCI combo card was shipped to a friend in Singapore today. Dell will come to his office and swap the old for new parts. Then another friend will need to hand carry them into Indonesia to avoid customs charges! All of that stuff is due to the fact that Dell doesn't sell/support the Inspiron 8000 in Indonesia.

When all is said and done (and fixed) I'm going to sell this monster of a machine (which I really do like) for a lower end (video & RAM) Fujitu S series that weighs about 1.7 kilos!

New virus, worm

New worm: Wanna know a secret?. I got hit by this one, but Outlook 2002 blocked it. I have to admit I opened it, but I have a good reason, really. The title was "Your Password" or something like that. Well, the person it came from was connected to a ISP that I'd recently contacted about getting a better connection to the Internet. So, I thought, wow these guys are going to send me a freebie account to try out?!?! No such luck, but I do know who I won't be doing business with!

Google mirror site

Why would Google need a mirror site. Always seems very snappy to me. I guess it would help to have a real mirror when using this mirror. [JOHO the Blog]

How to lead as a team

Stu and Jerry's Five Rules for Co-Leaders

1. Care about the same things deep down while behaving like creatures from two different planets.
2. Share an office but travel a lot and own homes on opposite coasts.
3. Trust each other's convictions. Whoever has more passion wins.
4. Divide equity equally. If one sells shares, so does the other.
5. Elevate the organization above all else. It's not about you!

Breaking things

Now, how do I make the move and not break all (the few) links that people have made to me?

Moving soon

My new domain is up and running, www.weblog.or.id. I'm going to be moving the weblog there soon, to a subdomain, joe.weblog.or.id. I've got cool plans for this domain and other similar domains.

SpamNet

I finally got SpamNet to work on my machine. I installed it several times, but it never worked. If you've installed it and it doesn't show up in Outlook then Cloudmark has a solution for you.

Spell checker for IE

I tried this spell checker earlier, but it didn't' work with Internet Explorer rich edit boxes. Now it does, which means it works with Radio Userland. Very cool add-on. Maybe I can quite doing the copy/paste/copy/paste into/out of Outlook to spell check each entry. Well, it's working so far.

ieSpell is a "free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage." [Scripting News]

Road to Perdition

I really want to see this movie. Wonder how long it will take to come to Indonesia?

"A heaven-sent ‘Road to Perdition’. Cutting right to the chase: “Road to Perdition” is the best gangster movie since “The Godfather” — and like “The Godfather,” more than a gangster film. Reviewed by David Elliott." [MSNBC]

Nextcard, my card, goes belly up

Banks to Close NextCard Accounts. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Some of NextCard Inc.'s 800,000 customers may be surprised when they try to swipe their Visa cards Wednesday -- federal regulators are closing all accounts as a result of the online credit card issuer's financial failure. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology]

My card number was just stolen and the thiefs ran up $1,500+ on it. Should be interesting if these events make it easier or harder to resolve.

Bud the boob

I watched 7 innings of the All Star Game last night. Tape delayed for those of us in SE Asia. I turned the channel because my boys wanted to watch The Practice. Sure wish I'd stayed with it. I can't believe that Bud Selig will stay commissioner for much longer.

Bud sold the suckers another lemon. or Selig says there was no other choice. or Fans send warning to Bud, baseball. or Baseball ruins everything it touches.

Quote of the day

"The most valuable thing people give you is their time." - Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church