I recently started using BlueDot’s Auto-Blog feature. It’s a nifty little tool that takes the Dots I’ve chosen (through tag filtering) and auto-posts them each night. However, I noticed that these posts were wreaking havoc on my WordPress theme(s). After quite a bit of tinkering with the code, I thought I had fixed it. Alas, it seemed like there was no pattern to the madness.

It finally dawned on me that it was not something inherently wrong with the code in the post, but because I was omitting information when I dotted a page. If I didn’t enter in a note for the Dot, the page would break. Well, I don’t want to necessarily have to enter in a note for every Dot I make, so I came up with a fix.

The fine folks over at BlueDot saw my post (auto-dotted from my blog) and made a very quick update to their auto-blogging code. This instructions in the following post should no longer be necessary. Thanks mohit!

You need to change two files in your WordPress theme:

• index.php
• single.php

In index.php, find the following section of code:

<div class="entry">
<?php the_content('Continue reading &amp;raquo;'); ?>
</div>

Replace it with this:

<?php
$cat = get_the_category();
$cat = $cat[0];
$catname = $cat->cat_name;
// Grab the category name for the upcoming post
?>
<div class="entry">
<?php the_content('Continue reading &amp;raquo;'); ?>
<?php
if ($catname == "BlueDot"){
preg_match_all("/<div class=\"bluedotNote\" \/>/m", get_the_content(), $matches);
for ($counter = 1; $counter <= sizeof($matches[0]); $counter++){
echo "</div><!-- Missing /div from bluedotNote -->";
}
}
?>
</div>

In single.php, find the following section of code:

<div class="entry">
<?php the_content('<p class="serif">Continue reading &amp;raquo;</p>'); ?>

Replace it with this:

<?php
$cat = get_the_category();
$cat = $cat[0];
$catname = $cat->cat_name;
// Grab the category name for the upcoming post
?>
<div class="entry">
<?php the_content('<p class="serif">Continue reading &amp;raquo;</p>'); ?>
<?php
if ($catname == "BlueDot"){
preg_match_all("/<div class=\"bluedotNote\" \/>/m", get_the_content(), $matches);
for ($counter = 1; $counter <= sizeof($matches[0]); $counter++){
echo "</div><!-- Missing /div from bluedotNote -->";
}
}
?>

Essentially, we grab the category for the entry (all my BlueDot entries are posted with a category of “BlueDot”) and check to see if we have a BlueDot post. If so, we search the post for an instance of:

<div class="bluedotNote" />

This indicates a Dot that is missing a note. If this snippet is found, the code adds an extra closing div tag in order to compensate.

This code also works with multiple Dots per entry.

Earlier today, I wrote about the fantastic bookmarklet, SuperGenPass; a great tool for generating secure, random and site-specific passwords with an additional two-clicks added to your login process. However, as noted in my previous post, two more clicks is not the ideal solution, at least not for me. I have detailed below the steps to implement a keyboard shortcut for SuperGenPass to reduce the effort down from two clicks to zero.

What you need (requirements)

• Firefox
• SuperGenPass
• Keyconfig
• Your text editor of choice

1. Using the handy bookmarklet builder at the SGP homepage, generate a bookmarklet for Firefox with the option to “Enter your master password each time, but use a hash to verify it” and your preferred number of characters.
2. Add the generated bookmarklet to your bookmark toolbar.
3. Right click on SGP and click properties, copy the SGP code (starting with ‘javascript:’) into your favorite text editor.
4. Do a Find & Replace All.
   Find: .blur Replace: .focus This will ensure that no added clicks will have to be added into your login procedure (i.e., you will press your keyboard shortcut and then ‘Enter’ to login, rather than having to click the ‘Login’ button)
5. Copy your modified code back into the ‘Location’ field of the bookmark properties
6. Assign a ‘Keyword’ to the bookmarklet (e.g., sgp) and remember this keyword
7. Install the Keyconfig extension
8. Type about:config into your address bar and hit ‘Enter’
9. Right click on the config screen and create a New >> String
10. For the preference name enter: keyconfig.main.xxx_key__SGP BOOKMARK KEYWORD
11. For the string value enter: meta][\][][if(window.loadURI) loadURI(getShortcutOrURI('SGP BOOKMARK KEYWORD',{}));
12. In the Firefox menu Tools >> Keyconfig find the name of the bookmark keyword you just added.
13. Assign a keyboard shortcut.
14. Restart Firefox.
15. Choose a site that you wish to test your new bookmarklet (e.g., yahoo.com).
16. Open your account preferences and select the ‘Change Password’ function.
17. Type in your master password (as set on the bookmarklet generator page) into the ‘Current Password’ text box and execute your keyboard shortcut. The text boxes (Current, New, Confirm) will turn green, indicating that they have been populated with the password as generated by SGP.
18. In the ‘Current Password’ box, type in your current password (leaving the ‘New’ and ‘Confirm’ boxes alone and submit the changes.

Next time you go to the site to login, type in your master password, execute your keyboard shortcut, and press enter. Voila!

In my never ending quest to secure my identity on the Internet, I came across an interesting bookmarklet by the name of SuperGenPass (SGP). Created by Chris Zarate, this snippet (alright, it’s a bit larger than a ’snippet’) of JavaScript allows you to generate secure, domain-specific, “random” passwords on the fly with only a few clicks.

Using your master password, this bookmarklet uses a one-way MD5 hash in order to generate a secure alpha-numeric password that will give your typical dictionary and brute-force password crackers a mighty big headache. Due to the nature of the hashing, your master password cannot be discovered by reverse engineering your generated, domain-specific password. Perhaps best of all, consistently using this ‘tool’ drastically reduces the need to remember a bevy of passwords used to access the four corners of the Internet. With additional perks such as phishing protection and over 1,000 top-level domains supported, SGP sure seems to have promise.

All of this seems fantastic, but I must admit that I am adverse to adding additional clicks to my browsing experience. Though SGP touts only two additional clicks (one for password generation and one for population), that is two clicks too many for me.

This set of instructions will demonstrate how to implement the fantastic features of SGP with the ease of a keyboard shortcut.

This may not apply to everyone…in fact, it probably won’t apply to most.

• Chuck Norris did not send bank confirmations when he was in first year…the bank phoned him to confirm the balance
• Chuck Norris did not make photocopies in first year, he got the partner to do it for him
• Chuck Norris was only a trainee clerk for 5 minutes before he was promoted to partner
• Enron did not happen because of creative accounting, Chuck Norris happened to Enron
• Chuck Norris was bored one day, and thought up IFRS
• Chuck Norris does not need explanations for income statement fluctuations, he IS the reason for the fluctuations
• Chuck Norris knows how to do a mail merge
• Chuck Norris can make a consolidated cash flow work…first time
• Chuck Norris can reference in blue
• Chuck Norris can charge idle time whenever he wants.. Without signing the idle register
• Chuck Norris doesn’t get a trial balance from the client, he tells them what the trial balance is going to be
• Chuck Norris does not do leads, he is the lead
• When Chuck Norris gets review notes…..no way, nobody reviews Chuck Norris
• Chuck Norris does not need to sign off on working papers, everybody already knows who did the work
• Chuck Norris does not refer to the IAA05 Manual, he wrote the IAA05 Manual
• Chuck Norris passed both parts of board first time and he went to UND…..now that’s a super human feat
• Chuck Norris’s clients do not need signed financials, a handshake is more than enough
• When Chuck Norris goes for a client lunch, he is not afraid to order crayfish
• Chuck Norris answers ‘private numbers’ on a Friday afternoon
• Chuck Norris got a contract when he was in primary school