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August 26, 2005
:: Movable Type 3.2, Now In Service
After much anticipation, I have upgraded to MT 3.2, which incidentally just was released yesterday. All I can say is...MAN THIS IS SLICK!! Anyone who has used Typepad or MT knows that it is a powerful platform. Now that power is blinding. Meggisi will have to catch up...luckilly, none of the stuff (new or old) that MT does as a interweb-publishing platform is over my head. Okay, just had to post quick out of excitement to do it with 3.2....then I can get back to messing around with it!
Posted by pierre at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 22, 2005
:: Notifications
Hello avid readers! I sent a mass email out to many of my loyal readers (that I know of) this A.M. to solicit requests for auto-email notifications whenever this blog is updated. If you want, you can also comment to this post and I will add you to the notification list.
In the future, I am hoping to automate the notification signup (which I am aware I could do right now), but again, I am eagerly awaiting the full release of Movable Type 3.2 before I get any more major changes to the blog in the hopper.
Speaking of updates, here is what I have done, and what projects are planned for meggisi.org:
1) More active posting (in progress)
2) Maybe some additional authors
3) More pictures in the meggisi photo gallery - now that I have a worthy digital camera!
4) Upgraded weather access and resources
5) More base articles about fishing and camping
6) Site cleanup and maybe a homepage redesign (may go to blog format for homepage)
7) ...and a Railfanning Page for my friend Marty!
More and more things are being dreamt up, but that is all for now
Posted by pierre at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2005
:: Strike - and now the real fight begins
Well, it was a long day yesterday. Spent most of the day waiting for any glimmer of progress between AMFA and NWA to occur, and of course it didn't come. Then at 10:57PM (4 minutes before the "deadline") AMFA emerged from the NMB meeting facilities in D.C. and began to distribute press releases before Jeff Matthew's (AMFA lead negotiator) made his "we had no other option" speech to reporters, calling the strike.
10:57PM (11:57PM EDT) - the slightly early announcement indicates that talks had broken down well before then. Sources say that the two sides never met "face-to-face" but rather through mediators Hoglander and Gibbons. This is by no means uncommon; but then again, if either side was serious about getting a deal I would have expected face-to-face bargaining.
Now the real fight begins: Will NWA remain operatationally stable with their contigtency plan of 1200 replacement workers, outsourcing, and a reduced fall schedule to ease the transition, or will the AMFA strike cause irreperabale damage to the airline forcing NWA to return to the table. Only time will tell...but I think this strike is not short-term by any means. As I put in the previous post, NWA would be more apt to lock out AMFA for good than return to the table to hagle over job retention.
One more point here that must be made. NONE of the other NWA unions declared sympathy strikes. The most likely group - the flight attendants - voted against a sympathy strike in ballots tallied last week. The IAM shot a very clear "tough sh!t" letter back to AMFA when O.V. Delle-Femine asked the machinists union to lock-step with the mechanics. The stewards and directors of the IAM were quick to remind AMFA that the wounds were still seeping from the raid AMFA conducted to pull NWA mechanics from the IAM in the late 1990's.
Finally, the pilots - who are literally the ONLY laborers who can "ground" an airline - are slamming both management and AMFA. Knowing that they are next in line for another round of concession talks, the stance of ALPA was "get 'er done!" - a message directed at both parties. The 15% pay cut "bridge agreement" ALPA signed with NWA in October 2004 was supposed to pave the way for the other labor groups and management down a clear path to fiscal restructuring without getting dragged through a Chapter 11.
AMFA is only round 1. ALPA, PFAA, and the IAM, plus a likely Chapter 11 filing will be the subsequent rounds. This is only the beginning - to bad it started with a strike, which usually comes at the end.
Posted by pierre at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
:: The Clock is Ticking
Mechanics represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) may choose to go on strike tonight if they don't get a deal with employer Northwest Airlines.
Something that has been missing from the headlines is the fact that NWA could "lock out" AMFA if they don't like the terms of a deal...the mechanics aren't the only ones with the ability to "self-help". Despite all the quotes from NWA management that they "aren't trying to break the union," all employees should remember that the lock pictured above is very real...and NWA isn't afraid to use it.
Posted by pierre at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2005
:: Commentability II -- let's try this!
FINALLY - I will give the comment moderation that Movable Type can manage on it's own, without TypeKey. I had decided not to do this at first, because I didn't want to deal with a ton of spam comments waiting for moderation/approval. However, since the IP address for meggisi.org's new home is changed, maybe I am hidden from the usual spammers? I dunno.
All this is depending on the actions of spammers and the MT-Blacklist plugin. I think that comment spam will be minimal with the new install.
The EXCITING news is that MT-3.2 is in final beta testing and will be launched soon! I guess that the folks at 6A have put tons of work into the new version, especially as it comes to junk and spam filtering on you blog.
In the meantime, feel free to comment once again!
Posted by pierre at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
:: Blogroll is up...so are links
Thanks to the handy-dandy MT Blogroll plugin, I have created the list of friendly blogs you see on the left. My old list had some links that I can't remember (so they must not have been that important). Starting over, I realize, has been theraputic for my skill as a webmaster. The only problem is, the damn comments still won't work! I might have to try a "plan B"...I don't think a blog is a blog without comments from readers.
I know it is frustrating to those of you who do check in from other blogs that link to me to see that my blog has been going so s-l-o-w!! Hopefully I can get a little more time in on posts now that things are put together more. The countdown timer and links to other areas of Meggisi.org are posted now. Enjoy!
Posted by pierre at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)