Tag Archives: blog

WordPress makes all the difference

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…I don’t care what FakeGrimlock says.1

I finally updated the WordPress installation on this other blog of mine. 2  I’ve more or less neglected that other blog for almost two years – about as long as this blog has been in existence.   ;)  In any case, one side effect of not having an updated WordPress installation is that that other blog couldn’t take advantage of all the cool new features that make writing a blog much easier.

I’ve been using WordPress for about 4.5 years now and it has come an amazingly long way in this time.  The ability to quickly search for and add links to prior posts is pretty huge.  Anyhow, my point with this is that creating a post with a newer installation of WordPress is so much easier that I might actually start blogging on that other site more. 3 4

  1. No matter how hurtful it is… [↩]
  2. Yeah, I know.  Three blogs?!  It’s true!  But, it’s far less frequently updated – more on this in a second [↩]
  3. But, believe me, it’s far less interesting. [↩]
  4. As if that were possible amirite?! [↩]

It’s alive!

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I’ve got my Thing-O-Matic operational.  There were some initial hiccups, but it seems to be working.  However, I definitely need to calibrate Skeinforge and the “end.txt” cool down settings for this machine.  More on those details over at the MakerBot blog.  My initial print, a mini mug1 , turned out reasonably well – but is a little too sparse for actual toasting.

  1. Natch [↩]

Yay!

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[pdrpiechart data=”Yes. Ill even donate a dinosaur. Or laser.=27|Only if they promise to make him blog LESS. =4|No freaking way. I hate that guy.=2″]

As you may have heard, I have finally worn down the resolve of MakerBot Industries.  They’ve agreed to hire me to blog for them! 1  The negotiations were long and grueling, with tough concessions on both sides.

I promised to stop hanging around outside the BotCave, move back to California, and blog less.  In exchange, Bre promised to drop the restraining order.  This is really a win-win for everyone!

  1. Suckers!  I would have paid them to do it!  THANK GOD no one reads this blog… [↩]

Why do I care what you think about awesome robots?

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Actually, it’s pretty simple.  I really enjoy blogging about my MakerBot, stuff I make, how I make it, what I see other people do with their Makerbots, and awesome robots in general.  It helps me get ideas for things to write, things to design, and things to make – and hopefully things you like to read.

Heck, some of my favorite things only came about because someone e-mailed me or commented on one of these posts.  (I mean, a soft-pawed albino stoat of Southern Wales???  WTF?  That was so much fun!)

Blame Cyrozap

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Cyrozap‘s recent vociferous comments about truncated feeds were basically on point.

He noticed that I had recently changed my RSS feed settings to serve up truncated posts, rather than full content.  I made this change in mostly because I was tired of dealing with content theft.  However, I’m reasonably sure this will probably not be an issue any longer. While the points made by those articles are certainly valid, I would point out that it is far easier to steal content from an RSS feed than it is to write a content scraper.  Having written both, once upon a time, I can attest to this from experience.  Truncated feeds may not be a deterrent to all – but it will deter those who are just using a WordPress plugin to suck down RSS content.

In any case, I left the RSS feed settings as they were – due to inertia and because I assumed no one would really notice.  But, since I haven’t had to deal with stolen content in a little while and at least one person prefers un-truncated feeds…  the long rambling RSS posts are back!

If you find my rambling babbling showing up in your RSS feed, well, you have Cryozap Cyrozap to thank.  :)

Update:  Cyrozap – sory fore mispellnig yoru mane.

Botmill.com – NOT COOL

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Okay, you had a robo-blog.  That’s fine.  Nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I’m appreciative for some of those posts and blogs you pointed out to me.  You apologized profusely, though I don’t there’s a need to apologize for a robo-blog per se.

However, since then your robo-blogs have gotten worse.  The one associated with 3D-Printer-Parts.com, which links back to your site, is collecting anything and everything with the words “made, make, printer, 3d, 3-d” et cetera.  Oh, but that’s not the worst part.

Botmill is stealing the entire content of other people’s works and not providing any attribution.  That link is to one of my own posts (and not a particularly interesting one) copied whole cloth and posted in your own blog.

Make up your mind – do you want to be a blog aggregator or sell robot parts? There are tons of aggregators out there.  Not many are very good.  The ones that are have a real person picking and choosing.  The robo-blogs are basically packed with irrelevant or useless content.  Turn off the robo-blog and drop the fake secondary sites.  Rather than stealing the content of potential customers, why not write some of your own content.  How about posting some information about your own products?  Or some innovations of your own?  Stolen content doesn’t help you with customers, hurts your Google PageRank, and actually causes ill will.

Why not take a page from MakerBot and MakerGear?  Have a contest, give some stuff away, write some interesting things, ask them for help, show them you care, involve your customers, and form a community.

What’s so great about a RepRap anyhow?

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When I read the RepRap blog or the RepRap builder’s blog I see people printing incredible things in PLA.  And I never hear about their troubles with PLA.  Nothing about it jamming or being fussy about temperatures.  What am I missing?  What are Darwins and Mendels doing that my little MakerBot isn’t?

“Tea” – a retrospective

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Tony Buser has posted a set of pictures on his blog showing MakerBot #481 “Tea” from box to building to printing to Mendel parts.

It has a high school graduation montage feel to it – in a good way – like watching your little robot grow up.  When I saw the cracked insulating retainer, cracked idler wheel, and busted extruder I could almost hear the auditorium around me going “oooooohhhh” that that special pain only another RepRap/MakerBot operator has known.

I’m still continually amazed that a box of plastic, metal, and electronic bits has been assembled by my own clumsy fingers to build all of the crazy amazing things I can dream up.