Failed WordPress Upgrade

The error message:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function update_core()

The Cause:

You don’t have enough disk space on your hosting account anymore.

The Fix:

Pick one:

  • Ask your web host to bump up your allowed disk space
  • Delete unneeded files on your account
  • Move to a new web host

Conclusion

I never ran into this problem before, but during an update to WordPress 3.4, the error kept appearing every time the upgrade script tried to unpack the downloaded zip file from wordpress.org.  It would be helpful if they included a message about it to let you know you may be out of space, but at least you can Google the error and find this page now 🙂

UFO Sighting: Orange lights over Reynold’s Mountain in Asheville

Last night my buddy Mark and I were hanging out on my back deck when almost simultaneously we saw an orange lite rise up from behind a cluster of trees and start flying slowly through the air. It was soon followed by a second and third light.

The third light vanished quickly, but the other two flew at more or less the same speed in the same direction, though it seemed as if they varied their courses slightly. After about 20-30 seconds, they each faded away and were gone.

We sat there marveling over what we saw. I was quick enough to whip out my phone and shoot video, though all you can see on it is a couple of flickering orange lights on a black background.

About 3 minutes later, we watched another light come from the same place and do the same thing! This time I ran in to grab Rachael and she made it out in time to watch it with us. This light went off in the same direction and vanished about the same place over Reynold’s Mountain.

We heard no noises at all coming from the direction of the lights. They remained solid until they disappeared: no flashing lights, nothing similar to an aircraft.

Mark got on the Internet later and discovered someone else had see the same thing back in February:

http://unitedstatesufo.blogspot.com/2012/02/orange-lights-spotted-coming-over.html

Exact same description, exact same location. A little more Google revealed that others witnessed the same types of lights in other places around the world over the last week hours or so. The following articles describe very similar behavior of orange lights. The included videos and photos show exactly what we saw last night.

June 6 in Apple Valley, California
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981380359

May 29 in Michigan
http://www.openminds.tv/ufos-over-muskegon-lake-in-michigan-944/

May 30 in Guelph Canada
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/734595–spray-of-red-lights-over-guelph-puzzles-onlookers

May 30 in Lincoln, NE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQbZvAID8wI

May 27 in Plymouth, Mass
http://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/news/x624613747/UFO-sightings-in-Plymouth

May 22 in Blenhein, New Zealand
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/6962610/Scratching-heads-over-drifting-lights

Ottowa on May 5
http://www.examiner.com/article/ufo-ottawa-witness-reports-huge-orange-big-ball

April 8 in Sacramento
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx0q2FfgISk

 

If you have seen anything like this, I’d love to know!

 

Verizon Succesfully Defends Privacy of Alleged BitTorrent Pirates | TorrentFreak

 

Verizon Succesfully Defends Privacy of Alleged BitTorrent Pirates

Verizon also refused to hand over information in order to protect the privacy of its subscribers, which they feel is at stake in these ongoing mass-BitTorrent lawsuits. The company asserted that Wiley is seeking “information that is protected from disclosure by third parties’ rights of privacy and protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Way to go, Verizon. I’m a newer one of your customers, and this sort of thing makes me happy to be with you.

10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 3.4 — Technosailor.com

Get ready…WordPress 3.4 is just around the corner. Find out what is in store.

10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 3.4 — Technosailor.com.

You won’t find anything too shiny and new from the outside in this release. However, it’s good to see some of the more ignored areas of WordPress getting some attention, and performance enhancements are always welcome. For those of us who create custom WordPress themes, a lot of the new stuff is exciting, such as being able to put custom templates in sub-directories. This will help themes be more organized.

 

Social Media Hell

If you can’t tell, I’ve been personally getting fed up with social media lately. My cancellation of my Facebook account yesterday was a big deal for someone who actually tells people all the time about the need to do social media for marketing their businesses. This is personal though.

A lot of it has to do with this sort of thing:

That said, every social media site still sucks hard. I’m not talking about users making asses of themselves, but instead about how every site tries too hard to be more than a one-trick pony, offering stuff you don’t want. I guess they are trying to increase shareholder value or some such nonsense rather than serve their audience. Skype was trying to branch out with their ‘mood’ feature – who thought that crap was a good idea? And now Pinterest is copying that same bad idea? Facebook Social Cam? Or LinkedIn communities, which seem to be a cesspool of bad information and people “positioning themselves” for employment. Corporate Twitter spambots are bad but they’re not the worst – not by a long shot. It’s the garbage from the social media companies who feel they must inform me that my “contacts are not very active”, or remind me that I have not responded to so-and-so’s request, or promote some new ‘feature’ they have just created which will likely interfere with what they actually do well. Who decided that social media must have nagware built in?

From https://securosis.com/blog/friday-summary-may-18-2012

Goodbye, Facebook

On the eve of Facebook’s IPO, I decided to have my account deleted and remove myself from it. So far, I feel wonderful.  I’ve been toying with this idea for a long time, and I finally decided to do it.

I chose to do this for several reasons:

  • Privacy. With the Facebook tracking that permeates our lives, I got too fed up. I really don’t want them knowing everything about me, as I’m not sure that I can trust them with all that data.
  • Arguments. I couldn’t stop myself from getting into arguments with people over politics and religion. It was pointless, and I spent way too much time doing it.
  • Now I’m cool. I quite Facebook before it was cool to quit Facebook. Neener.

Besides, if anyone cares about me, they can seek me out here. So, to all my friends and family who find this (you know who you are), gimme a shout in the comments.

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