Wheat-dogg’s world
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Wordpress users, beware! Upgrading to the latest version (2.6) may break your admin login. It happened to me.

In the past, I have had no problems updating WP. You upload the files, update the database when prompted, and bingo! you’re up and running. Not this time. I did everything by the book (except forgetting to logout first and deactivate plugins), got the login screen, typed in my username and password, and … came right back to the login screen.

Shades of php-nuke!

Since I use Firefox, it was easy to clear cookies and authenticated sessions, the usual culprits in situations like this one, but to no avail. I changed my password, both by using the official WP method and by changing directly in the database. No go.

I checked the WP support forums, tried a different browser, checked error logs, uploaded all the files again (twice!). Same situation.

So I downloaded version 2.5 PC3, uploaded it to my server space, updated the database, and woof! I’m back in business again.

So, if you’re considering updating your site to 2.6, wait until the WP gurus fix this little problem. Not being able to administer your site is a bit of a handicap.

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting lots of money. Working as a non-union extra earns you about $7 a hour. I did get time-and-a-half for the overtime, but still the pay didn’t even cover gas and lodging in Nashville.

I am not upset. In fact, working as an extra in the next Hannah Montana movie (to be released next May) was an educational experience, if not a lucrative one. Ideally, you would have to be a local resident (which most of my co-workers are) to justify even taking the job.

Union extras get paid more, but to become a member of the Screen Actors Guild you have to have three separate speaking roles to qualify. A speaking role apparently means you say at least one line of dialog. Apparently, yelling “Hey, Hannah!” doesn’t count.

The Tangled Bank is a collection of the best science-blog posts as judged by the science bloggers themselves. Basically, you write something that you think is good, we publish it.

Having been included in previous editions of the Tangled Bank, I volunteered to host it at some point in the future. That time has come: Tangled Bank #108 will be here June 25.

For submission rules, visit the link provided above.

No roadtrip is possible, I suppose, without a mishap or two. The Nashville movie-extra jaunt may have forced me out of the 35mm dark ages into the new digital age.

Whilst attempting to pass a semi on I-65 somewhere south of Elizabethtown, my hatch flew open and stuff flew out of the back. The quick-witted Niece managed to save our clothing from being spread all over the highway, but something did get sucked out. It was my camera bag, containing one 30-year-old Nikon FM body, three Vivitar lenses, a motor drive and various other acoutrements of 35mm SLR-dom.

Bang. Smash. Tinkle. All gone, in the blink of an eye. What didn’t shatter on impact was quickly pummeled into oblivion by the semis that were behind and alongside us. The FM body is a tough little thing, but somehow I think its designers did not anticipate it being underneath an 18-wheeler going at 70 mph.

Sigh. I’m a little sad, since the camera has traveled with me through dozens of states and several foreign countries, and recorded all number of personal, family and school events. My dad bought it for me when he still worked at EPOI, the then-parent company of Nikon, and by company policy it had his (and therefore my) name engraved on the bottom plate in gold letters.

So, today I’ve been on location, being an extra in … “Hannah Montana: The Movie.”

You ask — why is a 50+ man in a Hannah Montana movie? Serendipity. The blame falls on my wife, who heard an announcement on a Louisville radio station about an extras casting call in Nashville in April. Her idea was to bring one of our suitably aged nieces down there (our daughter being a tad too mature to be a HM fan). We convinced our 16-year-old niece (and her parents) to give it a try. We sprang for some nice photos taken the day before the casting call, then zipped down to Nashville one sunny Sunday.

A casting call for a pop princess vehicle is more like a cattle call. Signups were at Sommet Center. The line started at the front entrance and by the time we three arrived had already circled the block. The line was just as long by the time we made our way around to the entrance three hours later. Girls aged 8 to 13 were overwhelmingly the bulk of the would-be actors in line, but of course there were plenty of adults, too.

We got the Niece through the line, walked into the arena proper to hand over her paperwork and there one casting director told me they were looking for adult extras, too. Who knew? They took a headshot of me, and sent us on our way.

It’s time to drop the travel restrictions against former South African president Nelson Mandela and other members of the African National Congress (ANC), Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice said yesterday.

“I really do hope we can remove these restrictions on the ANC. This is a country with which we now have excellent relations — South Africa,” said Rice, who gave no timeline for the move.

“It is frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterparts — the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader, Nelson Mandela,” she added.

— Reuters

The restrictions date back to the days when the USA was sucking up to the apartheid regime of South Africa, which had banned the ANC in 1960 and had imprisoned Mandela for terroristic activities for 27 years. Mandela was released and the ban lifted in February 1990, when President F. W. DeKlerk indicated apartheid would soon be dismantled.

Mandela and DeKlerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first fully democratic elections in that country.

Despite the now-legitimate status of Mandela and the ANC, the old State Department restrictions on their travel to the US are still in place. Legislation is pending in the House to correct the injustice.
—–
Madiba is a honorific title used by elders in the Mandela clan. Most South Africans, however, refer to Nelson Mandela as “Madiba.”

Lino L. Nakwa, an honors graduate of Jefferson Community College and a Dean’s List student at Transylvania University, is facing deportation back to the Sudan. Immigration authorities have denied Nakwa his green card, and supporters are asking us to lobby the Kentucky congressional delegation on his behalf.

Nakwa, like many of the “lost boys” who came to this country, was forced as a boy to serve in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Because of that forced service, he was able to come to the US as a political refugee.

Now, immigration authorities have denied him a green card because of his prior service in a “terroristic” organization. Ah, the logic of government …

Nakwa is a model citizen and a model student. He raised his four brothers on his own, while attending college. It would be an injustice to ship him out after allowing him in as a refugee.

How to Take Action:

Call or write a letter asking government officials to reconsider Nakwa’s petition for permanent residency status. Refer to USCIS case file LIN0626050570.

F. Gerard Heinauer, Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, P.O. Box 82521, Lincoln, NE 68501-2521.

Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation:

Honorable Mitch McConnell, United States Senate, 361-A Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. (202) 224-2541. Fax: (202) 224-2499. Louisville office: (502) 582-6304.

Honorable John Yarmuth, 319 Cannon House Office Building, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. (202) 225-5401. Fax: 202-225-5776. Romano Mazzoli Federal Building 600 Martin Luther King Jr. Place, Suite 216, Louisville, KY 40202. (502) 582-5129. Fax: (502) 582-5897.

Sure, it’s corny, but math types need their holiday, too.
I’ll leave it to you to figure out precisely what time of the day corresponds to this approximation of π:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803
4825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521
1055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234
6034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436
7892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609…

Mathematicians in 2000 calculated π to the quadrillionth digit and have found no repeated patterns, which would eliminate π’s standing as a transcendental number.

I got a curious email from a Dr. Peter Calabria last week in response to one of my posts about scientific thinking. Since he did not use the comments system, I’m posting the message here.

Interesting piece on what a scientific explanation is. You give two variants, both incorrect. Science is actually a verbal encoding of what we see or experience non-verbally, the least unequivocal language for which is mathematics. That is, there is no reality other than as a succint and convenient expression of our sense of reality, which is not reality itself, other than assumed. This is not to deny that a reality exists. The first axiom of information theory is that a message received is a message necessarily transmitted from a source, the former what we sense, the latter the reality assumed. This screws up just about everybody, especially in the whacky intelligent design argument area. It also explains how God keeps getting back into the game even though Newton kicked him out of the solar system a few centuries back. Regards, P. Calabria. Nice blog. If you have any stomach for violent politically pointed mathematical science, el jefe, drop by and take a peek at our www.matrix-evolutions.com.

Some of this message veers toward philosophy, not one of my strong suits or favorite topics, so I am going to remain silent for now on what constitutes reality. And I’m not entirely clear how the first axiom of information theory, as quoted here, has to do with intelligent design, though I suspect the conclusion is that some folks (IDists, creationists) figure complex systems must be some kind of message (or proof) that God exists. No argument there.

I took the holidays off from blogging, but I’m back. I hope everyone out there had a good set of holidays, whichever ones you observe. Mine were good, and 2008 promises to be an eventful one for me. More about that later, though …