Introducing the Stack Overflow module for Drupal

As an avid user of Stack Overflow (and Server Fault, to some degree), I am well pleased to announce the stackoverflow.module for Drupal.

Why do we need a module for that?

Well, the Stack Overflow team recently introduced a new feature called “flair”. This is basically a badge you can put on your blog to show your level of awesomeness on Stack Overflow (or its related site, Server Fault).

My beef with that (and the reason for this module) is that using that requires either an iframe (ewww!) or injecting it with JavaScript (slowing the loading of your website). I found neither palatable, and in addition, I’d like to be able to run it through the Drupal theming system, so the theming guys will be able to make it look pretty.

Things that should be objects in Drupal #1: Content types

Currently, defining the simplest content type in Drupal requires ~54 lines of 100% standard boilerplate code.

The reason Object Orientation would be good here is the simple concept of inheritance.

Very simply, my 54 lines of code could be replaced by something like:

  1. class CampaignContentType extends NodeContentType {
  2. // Custom functionality here.
  3. }
  4. 

I think I’ll go see if I can help Crell with his objective somehow :)

Minimalist Firefox

Via plugins like Vimperator and Tree Style Tab, my Firefox is now very lean. The tab sidebar is collapsible, so I can have the extra width if needed :)

The new spam

I just came across a new kind of spam, very cleverly made:

Screenshot of the new kind of spam I got

It’s a clever ploy, posting praise with hidden images.

Installing FreeBSD 7.1 via eLOM on a Sun Fire X2100

I’ve just finished my migration of my two servers to FreeBSD 7.1, and I thought I’d take the time to write a short walkthrough for one of the more difficult steps in the process, so others won’t have as much trouble figuring it out as I did.

My web server is a rented Sun Fire X2100 from EasySpeedy. I don’t have physical access, so if you want to install an operating system not supported by their automatic installation procedure, your only shot is KVM-over-IP via Sun’s eLOM.

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