The java-based webcam software that runs the camera and uploads the pictures to the web server is fantastic software, well written, rock solid for the most part, and best of all, totally free. However, it sucks up a healthy amount of computer memory and adds a punishing 35% load factor to my computer (this has more to do with my computer being 15 years old than anything else). When I’m not trying to work, it isn’t a problem but when I’m competing with the webcam for slices of processor time, it’s a drag. Therefore until I upgrade my computer system (which upgrade is long over due) I’ll be running the webcam only when I’m not sitting in front of my computer… which lately, sadly, has been most of the time.

You’ll know when the webcam is operating by the picture that shows up in the sidebar. If the picture is like the one above, the webcam is offline.

I was checking my web stats dashboard the other day and realized that a good deal of traffic on this site comes from people seeing posts on facebook and clicking on them to read more. In technical website parlance, facebook is therefore our biggest referrer. The only other referrer with any traffic to speak of is not surprisingly, Google search.

So I’m trying out a new comment system that allows people to use their facebook, twitter, or WordPress accounts to login to comment. If it turns out to be popular (or at the very least, not a problem) then we’ll keep it. If however it results in nuisance comments and other irrelevant garbage being posted and ends up wasting my time, it’s outa here. This option has been available to me for a while but I never really considered setting it up until I saw the referrer report. I am just now taking a look at it.

There are a few caveats: It seems to work with most browsers (I’ve tried it with 3 different ones) but you need to have your browser set to accept 3rd party cookies. C’est la vis. I don’t like it but that’s how it works.

Another downside (from my point of view) is that as long as you leave an email address and a name, you can leave a comment. This increases the opportunities for comments (which is good) but increases the likelihood that I’ll be dealing with bogus users posting bogus comments. New user comments won’t appear until approved so I’m not really worried inappropriate content appearing on the site, but as I mentioned above, if I find myself wasting time dealing with garbage comments, we’ll go back to the original system.

<– So here’s what the new comment screen looks like. If you’re already logged into this site, nothing changes, comment as normal. If you’re not logged in, you can click on the WordPress, Twitter, or Facebook buttons to log in using those account credentials. If you’re logged in through Facebook say and you want to post from a different account (some of us have more than one…) there are Logout and Change links. From a security and privacy point of view, I’ve looked into this system and it appears satisfactorily secure and private. I also figure if you have a facebook or twitter account you’re probably not paranoid over privacy and security anyways 🙂 This is the same type of authentication mechanism used by news papers and other sites that encourage comments.

If anyone has any questions or encounters any problems with the new comment system, send me an email.

The software that creates and manages the photo galleries has included a bug that usually, but not always, incorrectly handles photo meta information- picture date, camera model, exposure, etc. As a result, the image date is often set to 01 January 1970 regardless of when the actual picture was taken. This makes it a little hard to sort galleries by date, the preferred method. I’ve implemented a fix of sorts that now gives newly added pictures the correct date but it didn’t fix the dates of the existing images. I could just upload all the pictures again but that’s a lot like work. I think I’ll just wait for a real bug fix from the developers that also retroactively fixes existing image dates. Should be soon. In the mean time, you’ll have to put up with oddly-organized photo galleries.

Steve Viti incidentally uploaded a lovely picture taken over by the floating bog.

The “Recent Pictures” box over on the side bar should show you the most recently added pictures.

After what is probably insufficient testing I have setup a Picture Upload Page. This allows you to upload your pictures directly to the site rather than having to email them to me as many of you have done in the past. Your uploads will remain sequestered until I’ve had a chance to check them out. When approved, they’ll appear in the User Uploads gallery. I do get an email when a picture has been uploaded but it might get overlooked. If you’ve uploaded a picture an it hasn’t shown up in 24 hours, email me.

The only real restriction on uploads is that you have to be a subscriber to the site, and be logged in to be able to use the uploader. That said, without doing extremely tedious sleuthing through log files (which I won’t bother with) I have no idea who uploaded a given picture unless you actually tell me you’ve done so. So. If you want your upload to be attributed to you, you better let me know who you are. A convenient way to do this is to  use the contact/feedback form or type your name into the description field. Other instructions are included on the Picture Upload Page. Enjoy.

I’ve begun switching this years old-style Picassa web photo albums over to the new-style NextGen/Wordpress galleries. The existing albums from 2012 and before will remain available in the Picture Archives. I may convert the existing Clary Images album of picture submissions from the old site to the new format. Prepare to be surprised.

WordPress offers some pretty cool ways of managing and displaying photographs but I haven’t had much time to delve into the existing gallery features that are built into the system. I finally got around to doing just that over the last couple of days. I also added a 3rd party set of gallery functions which further extend the functionality of the built in galleries. The results are pretty impressive!

I’ve put together a Test Gallery just to see how it looks, and I’ve inserted one of the pictures from that gallery in this post:

Let me know how you like them. I doubt I’ll get around to converting all the old 2012 Photo Albums the WordPress Galleries but I think from here on I’ll be using them. Eventually I’ll have it set up so users of the site can upload their pictures too. All in due time.

One of the nice features of running a site using WordPress is that there are a whole host of options, features, and other bells and whistles readily available and easily added to the site without a lot of work. Yesterday I added a feature-laden package to the site and have begun implementing some of the new functions. Many of these are back-end functions and only serve to simplify my life. Others affect how you interact with the site and what’s available. In no particular order:

1. You can now receive news posts by email. To be notified of new posts or comments, there are check boxes at the bottom of the Comment form. On the bottom right hand side bar is a form where you can enter your email address. Clicking submit engages a 2-step opt-in process which is quite simple. Opting out is equally simple. You can also easily manage your “subscription” on the WordPress.com web site. It works. You do not need to be registered on the Clary Lake Association web site to use this feature. Try it out!
   
2. If you only want to be notified of news posts and/or comments on a post, you’ll find check boxes at the bottom of the “post a comment” screen that you can check to be notified by email. This feature requires that you be logged into the site.
3. I’ve added a Feedback/Comment form under the About menu. It has fields for Name and Email Address but they’re not required so you can, if you wish, send a private, anonymous message to the webmaster (me).
4. I’ve cleaned up and simplified the side bar menu and moved the Site Login links to the top of the page, right under the weather graphic.
5. You’ll also notice at the bottom of the side bar menu are a couple of small images which you can click on to see a larger image. One will be a feature an image which I change from time to time. The other… well eventually I’m thinking of setting up a web cam on the lake.  To that end I’ve setup up a rudimentary, non-automated mechanism just for fun, taking a picture out my office window with the camera I use for Skype and uploading it to the server. I’ll manually update it periodically when I get a chance- perhaps when I do my water level chart updates. Maybe some day we can even have a “Dam Cam” with real-time updates.
6. Beginning to implement Post Categories which allow you to sort posts into various bins for more convenient reading. These are accessible on the sidebar in a drop-down list which also shows post counts. Current categories are Site News, News, Petition News, and Uncategorized. I still have to go through existing posts and categorize or re-categorize them. Posts can be in multiple categories.
7. There is now a dynamic “To Top” button that magically appears on the bottom right-hand side of the page to give you a way to quickly and conveniently get back to the top of the page.

There are other features that I haven’t even investigated yet. Enough for now. I’ll update this post with comments as more stuff becomes available.

I’ll be taking the site down later this evening for some routine server and site maintenance. Chances are it won’t be off line more than 15 minutes and more than likely nobody will even notice but still, I wanted to give everyone a heads up. If you stop by and the site hangs or won’t come up, just wait a little while.

UPDATE: I’m done with the maintenance. If anyone finds anything broken on the site, please let me know.

A nice feature of this new site is that it allows for people to register for accounts and to make comments. For the past year, while the old site served it’s purpose, it felt a lot like me bloviating into the void with no input or feedback from anyone. While the primary purpose of the site is to disseminate information, it’s also a community initiative which doesn’t mean me talking endlessly into the void to an unseen and largely, unheard viewership. I’ve exchanged email with a lot of you over the past year and I know you have a lot to say.

No, you don’t need to be an Association member to sign up for an account or to participate by commenting. Registration on the site is open to everyone.

Welcome to our new members!

We’ve gone live with the new site- my wife helped me test and check things over. I don’t think anything is seriously broken, though there are a few mostly cosmetic things that remain to be done. Undoubtedly there are still some links that point back to the old site- I’ll fix them when I find them. There are also features and functionality that I have yet to implement. All in due time.

One of the neat features of WordPress besides being easier to manage, update, and maintain is it’s built-in comment system. In order to leave comment, you need to have a user account and be logged in. Now, I don’t expect a whole lot of people to take advantage of this new functionality, but I sincerely hope some of you choose to participate.

The normal procedure for signing up for an account is to click on the Login link on the right side of the page and then click “register”. You’re then prompted for a username and an email address to send your password to. Unfortunately, outgoing email isn’t working on the server just now. I’m working with the server administrator to solve this issue, but in the mean time to sign up for an account, email me at gsfergusson@clarylake.org and provide the username you’d like to have and I’ll set up an account and send you your password. Once you’re logged in, you can update your user profile and change your password if you want. Sorry for the inconvenience!

UPDATE: I got email working so signing up for an account is a now a simple matter of clicking on the Log in link on the bottom right side of the page and selecting Register (it occurs to me there’s a Register link on the page right above the Log in link). Enter a username and a valid email address and you’ll shortly get an email with your temporary password. When you first log in, you’ll be at your profile page where you can add additional information about yourself. At the top left corner of the screen you can click on the Clary Lake Association link to get to the site.

If you have any questions or problems, email me.

January Thaw! Saw two sets of ice fishermen on the lake today- the first this year. Not sure I’d want to venture out there too far, knowing what I know about the condition of the ice but I suppose it’s safe enough. As cold as it has been, there is likely some relatively thin ice in places- there’s a substantial current running down the length of the lake that kept sections open for the longest time.

Anyways, I’ve added a new album to the site, Album 9: Winter 2013 and I’ve decided to use the picture for this month’s News page banner.

For completeness, I’m posting ALL the original news posts from the old site here in one long post.

• 06 January 2013:
  • It was just a little over a year ago that I submitted the completed Clary lake water level petition with 54 certified signatures to DEP- on the 3rd of January 2012 to be exact. I made a commitment at that time to pursue this petition process relentlessly to a successful conclusion. I did not expect it to be a simple process, or to necessarily go smoothly. I expected bumps in the road and some push back from the dam owner but I had honestly expected the petition process to be largely behind us by now, not stalled at DEP, in apparent administrative limbo.

    While this situation is admittedly discouraging, rest assured that it is only temporary. DEP cannot sit on this forever. I remain steadfastly committed to doing whatever is necessary to resolve this matter. We have State law and public opinion on our side, and we hold the moral high ground. We will prevail.

    I understand that in the past few weeks a number of people have called and/or written to Beth Callahan expressing their concern over the delays in processing the petition. Thank you. It is important that DEP be reminded that there are real people with real concerns out here. I’ll let everyone know as soon as I hear anything. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I’d be glad to talk to you.

• 01 January 2013

• It’s a new year so I’m starting a new News page. In addition to rolling over the news I’ve rolled over the water level chart. At the bottom of the water level chart page you’ll find links to the 2012 monthly charts as well as the chart for the entire 2012 year. The new chart includes the month of December 2012 for continuity.
• I had expected more progress on the water level petition in 2012. We start this new year (still) waiting for DEP to rule on the motions before them. The general level of frustration over the delay is rising judging from things I’m hearing. I remain confident that we will see some positive forward motion on the petition real soon now.
• I’ve started work on the Winter 2013 Clary Lake Association newsletter with an eye towards getting it in the mail by the end of January. If anyone has anything they’d like to contribute to the newsletter, get in touch with me and let’s talk.