Aha! My problem with Trackback pinging solved

Movable Type releases version 2.51.

This is primarily a bug fix release. See the changelog if you have been experiencing a problem with 2.5 and to determine if it was fixed in 2.51.

Ben Trott tells me my problem with using a passphrase to ping a blog was due to a bug in 2.5, since fixed. (The syntax of passphrase-protected pings has changed as well.)

This release also adds two new features:

• A Windows right-click menu item called “MT It!” allows you to use the bookmarklet from your right-click menu. If you’re running Windows, you can add this menu item through the “Set Up Bookmarklets” screen in Movable Type. Thanks to Anil Dash.

An <MTElse> tag that can be used globally to provide an “else” condition for any conditional tag. (more information) Thanks to Brad Choate.

Adding to my 'to review' list

I got my copy of We Blog from Amazon today, and I received Jesse James Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience, a beautifully designed explication of his seminal model of the same name.
For reviewing purposes, though, I’m afraid these go behind my reviews in progress (The Weblog Handbook, We’ve Got Blog, and Essential Blogging. I wonder if Biz Stone, Genius, would send me a free copy of his book for review?

Run DMC deejay Jam Master Jay shot dead at 37

sad news: Jam Master Jay, R.I.P.. Jam Master Jay, né Jason Mizell, was shot by two gunmen at a NY recording studio, cops say. He was 37.

Jam Master Jay, R.I.P.

Sad news via MZ: Run DMC DJ Killed

Jam Master Jay, né Jason Mizell, was shot by two gunmen at a NY recording studio, cops say. He was 37.

Let’s pour some libation on the ground for old-school rapper. Run DMC was the soundtrack of my college years (one of, at least, along with Futura 2000 and the rest of that crowd). Back in the day…

Radio Free Blogistan is…

via X-POLLEN:

I noticed Dave Winer posting about Googlism today and I’ve seen the reference riding up the meme charts but only…

(Note, using Googlism yields a popup ad.)
Here’s what Google thinks RFB is:

• radio free blogistan is the second result
• radio free blogistan is not listed at dmoz
• radio free blogistan is still
• radio free blogistan is the rare blog about blogging that actually gets beyond bashing small
• radio free blogistan is metablog is memewatch
• radio free blogistan is not listed

before…

big ol’ pumpkin from the yuppie grocery up the hill…

Don't blame me: I voted

Don’t blame me: I voted for Sheen. Martin Sheen just called and left an answering machine message urging me to support prop 52, a voting reform proposition…

Christian Crumlish is…

I noticed Dave Winer posting about Googlism today and I’ve seen the reference riding up the meme charts but only realized after following his link that someone has wired up the Google api to automate the searching-for-“Your Name Here is”-and-posting-the-results-to-your-blog meme. (I did “xian is” at bodega back in June.)

before…

big ol’ pumpkin from the yuppie grocery up the hill

More official Dreamweaver MX tutorials from Macromedia

Dreamweaver Extreme: Five Steps to More Professional Pages with Dreamweaver MX [Macromedia Resource Feed]