Switched Blog Back to Using Math Comment Spam Protection

Posted on August 24, 2010 by MarkRH

Since the latest version (3.0) of Math Comment Spam Protection is now compatible with WordPress 3.0.1 and the Twenty Ten theme, I have switched back to using it several days ago. As is the case with any of these math protection plug-ins, it will at best stop some of the automated spambots. It will not prevent someone from answering the math question to post spam. :)


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Getting NASCAR RaceView Working with Internet Explorer 8

Posted on August 23, 2010 by MarkRH

During the first 200 laps or so of the NASCAR race in Bristol, I finally got NASCAR.COM’s RaceView working on my system. Hallelujah brother! LOL. This post will probably get further tweaking after next race. Before I begin I should state that my system is as follows:

  • Running Windows XP Home w/ SP3 with all high priority updates applied. I use the Windows Classic theme which explains why the dialog boxes in the screenshots I have look the way they do. Old school, what can I say.
  • Have Windows Media Player 11 installed.
  • Have Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.6.8 installed.
  • Running latest version of Java (build 1.6.0_21-b07)
  • Using an EVGA 6800GT with NVidia drivers version 178.13. I mention this because many of the newer 190+ drivers have caused RaceView to lock the system harder than a rock in the past when it was working before and re-installing the older video drivers cured it.
  • Running DirectX v9.0c

Now that all of that is out of the way. Much of what I cover here is also mentioned on NASCAR.COM’s TrackPass knowledge base. All I am going to include is what I did that, apparently, got it working, possibly in combination with what the NASCAR.COM webmasters did on their end after I told @NASCAR on Twitter my problems getting nothing but errors.

I decided I would try to get it working with Internet Explorer first. If it doesn’t work with it, it’s not going to work with anything else. Due to the length of this post with all the screenshots, I’m using the read more option here:

Continue reading →

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My NASCAR Inspired DestroyTwitter 2 Theme

Posted on August 20, 2010 by MarkRH

Now that DestroyTwitter 2.1.0 supports themes, I decided to make a NASCAR inspired theme. It’s very similar to the one I made for DestroyTwitter 1.X. You just need to download, unzip the file and install the theme through preferences.

Download DestroyTwitter 2.X NASCAR theme

mrheadrick's DestroyTwitter 2.X NASCAR theme

Since these are just CSS files, they are very easy to modify how you see fit. Enjoy! :)

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Test of Twitter Tools 2.4 and OAuth

Posted on August 16, 2010 by MarkRH

This is just a quick test post for the Twitter Tools 2.4 WordPress plug-in and its new Twitter OAuth mechanism. I “think” I have configured everything correctly and it should be using my URL Shortner/Redirection.

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My plea to NASCAR.COM and TrackPass (RaceView) Developers

Posted on August 16, 2010 by MarkRH

It’s probably a good thing I waited until today to write this; otherwise, it would have been full of many colorful words. :) This is a follow-up to my last post. I tried to run NASCAR.COM’s RaceView during the Michigan race this past Sunday and all I got was either a window with “loading” at the bottom or just a solid white window. This occurred in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. I opened up the Java console in both Firefox and IE and it just had a Java error of a Null pointer assignment:

java.lang.NullPointerException
 at com.sun.opengl.util.JOGLAppletLauncher.start(JOGLAppletLauncher.java:385)
 at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source)
 at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException

Yes, I did try to reload several times. So I gave up and just started PitCommand to listen to Dale Jr’s audio. I did have to start it in IE first before the audio would work in Firefox and I just didn’t care to investigate this further. I was frustrated and missing the race. Before you ask, I do meet their minimum system requirements.

Now, I don’t mind troubleshooting problems; however, I do not want to do it during the actual race! It totally ruins the fan’s experience. How can you expect fans to search knowledge bases and forums, reinstall Java, plug-ins, audio and video drivers, and do whatever else might be potentially involved? It boggles my mind that there isn’t a race simulator that we can test these applications with during the week. If I was a NASCAR website/TrackPass developer I’d scream for this. I am quite sure the website team has no desire to fix the software during races either (I only hope they at least have some internal system to do this). Normally I wouldn’t give a flying fruitcake about it, but I am paying more for TrackPass than I am for my webhosting here that my blog, among several other sites, is on. The IndyCar RaceControl works (yes, they do loose timing and scoring sometimes but that’s an issue at their end when it happens) and it’s free.

This will probably be my last season to subscribe to RaceView. If the preview works during next year’s Daytona 500 then I might reconsider; otherwise, I’ll just stick with the scanner.

I welcome any comments about other’s experiences and how you got it to work, if you did.

Posted in Firefox, NASCAR | Tagged , | 1 Comment