Category Archives: Edits and Updates

iTextEditors

Apple, Edits and Updates, Review, Technology, , ,

What do you use your iPad (or iPhone) for? 

Ever had a need to edit text files or code?

Brett Terpsta maintains a list of iOS text editors and features that is nothing short of phenomenal. Titled iTextEditors, this webpage lists each text editing app in a dynamically filterable matrix of features.

 

Touching (or clicking on) the app name opens a pop-up window with additional information not captured by the feature matrix. Touching the More info … link takes you to a review of the app.

  
  
I am currently using his page to decide which text editor(s) might be worth adding to my stable of apps. 🙂

http://brettterpstra.com/ios-text-editors/

Happy Aniversary

About, Apple, Art, Blogging, Cats, Day 42, Economic Issues, Edits and Updates, Electric Vehicles, Essay, Extreme Humor, Fashion, Fiction, Filler, Film, Games, Grammar, Health, History, Horror, Humor, HZV, Internet, Mars, Music, News, Opinion, Photography, Poetry, Rant, Reading, Reblog, Review, Rum, Russia, Satire, Science, Science Fiction, Scotch, Social Issues, Space Travel, Technology, The Nudist War, Twitter, Video, Welcome to the Future, XKCD, Zombies,

To me …

  

A Brief History of Everything

About, Art, Blogging, Cats, Day 42, Economic Issues, Edits and Updates, Essay, Extreme Humor, Fashion, Fiction, Filler, Film, Grammar, Health, History, Horror, Humor, HZV, Internet, Mars, Music, News, Opinion, Poetry, Reading, Reblog, Russia, Satire, Science Fiction, Scotch, Social Issues, Space Travel, Technology, The Nudist War, Video, Welcome to the Future, Zombies, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Continue reading A Brief History of Everything →

Arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!

Blogging, Edits and Updates, News, Technology, , , , , , , ,

UPDATE

Fixed by WordPress for iOS 4.0.2

Released 15 Apr 2015

I’m playing whack-a-mole

I’m playing whack-a-mole

WordPress for iOS

Is just like whack-a-mole

• • •

First: Dates saved based on Time Zone offset, so when ever I edited a post the time regressed. Eventually the date changed and all my links broke.

Then: I learned about scheduling. This was a workaround because I could change the date.

Next: WP released an update that fixed the time offset problem. I got used to future scheduling.

Then: The Preview functionality stopped working. It coincidentally stopped working about the time we all started getting Invalid Certificate warnings.

So: I found a workaround
https://contrafactual.com/2014/04/07/iphone-app-previewcert-error/

Now: I can no longer schedule posts for the future. All my posts are Immediate. The scheduling feature is what I use to space out my posts. The option is still there … It just doesn’t work. 😦

Remastered …

Day 42, Edits and Updates, Fiction, Horror, HZV, The Nudist War, Zombies

The Nudist War

A new take on an old favorite …
The Zombie Apocalypse
(AKA Day 42 Remastered)

~ https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/

Definition of remaster (vt)
re·mas·ter

  1. make improved master recording of something: to make a new master copy of an earlier audio recording or movie to improve its quality of reproduction
  2. new master recording: a new master copy of an earlier audio recording or a movie

While not an audio or video recording, The Nudist War qualifies as a remastering of the Day 42 series. I am going through each and every chapter, fixing typos, adding content, and clarifying passages as needed. However the plot line isn’t changing.

I hope you are enjoying it.

Time Warp

Blogging, Economic Issues, Edits and Updates, Essay, History, Humor, News, Social Issues, Technology, , , , , , , ,

With a bit of a mind flip, you’re into the time-slip, and nothing can ever be the same.

~ Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975

20140309-232912.jpg

Let’s do the Time Warp again

Several posts ago, I told you that I had figured out how to schedule posts into the future. If you look at the posting time for all of the TNW – Day nn chapters, you will see that they are all posted, that is scheduled, for Sunday at 2:00 AM.

20140309-234701.jpg

Except for TNW – Day 45

When I tried to schedule it for 2 AM, the 2 was grayed out. No matter how hard I tried, it would jump back to 1 or ahead to 3. It was frustrating, but I ended up scheduling it for 1:05 AM and thought nothing more about it.

It just occurred to me a short while ago …

2 AM didn’t exist.

The 2 o’clock hour didn’t exist.

With a bit of a mind flip, you’re into the time-slip, and nothing can ever be the same.

• • •

What would aliens say when told Earthlings shift clocks twice a year to fool themselves into thinking there’s more sunlight.

~ Neil deGrasse Tyson via Twitter

Status Update

About, Blogging, Edits and Updates, Fiction, , , ,

So, what’s going on with Contrafactual?

Basically, I’m getting serious about The Nudist War. I’m revising it with the intent of having something that would be in a better format to be publishable. I am re-reading each ‘Day’, fixing typos, fixing the formatting, and adding some additional content. I have scheduled the release of a new ‘Day’ for every Sunday and those will continue out into the future. I will keep the old ‘Day’s for historical reference, but you will need to ‘search’ for them.

To my old readers, I apologize for the delay in getting the new ‘Day’s out, but this is something I had to do. I invite you to start from the beginning of The Nudist War, it will be familiar, but I have made some minor changes.

To my new readers, I hope you will enjoy The Nudist War it is a zombie novel … with a twist.

Thank you again for all of your readership and following in the past and I hope that I can continue to entertain you in the future.

cb

The Nudist War, iOS app 3.9.1, …

Blogging, Day 42, Edits and Updates, Fiction, Horror, HZV, News, Technology, The Nudist War, Zombies, , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

News

The WordPress iOS app 3.9.1 should fix the timestamp problem with updates, which appears to be an issue with local time vs UTC.

I won’t do any more updates to older posts until 3.9.1 comes out. Until then, if you are a new reader, you will need search on ‘Day 42’, ‘Day 43’, etc. to compensate for the broken links.

Once the 3.9.1 app release is out, I plan to repost Day 42, 43, 44 etc. with revisions starting at some current future date. I will leave the original posts in place for historical reference.

I have chosen The Nudist War as the title of the novel with Day 42 still the first chapter. I think that I will title the first post The Nudist War with subsequent posts titled TNW Day 43, TNW Day 43, TNW Day 44, etc.

I am also eagerly awaiting the March(?) release of iOS 7.1, which is anticipated to have better memory management and bug fixes for iPads and iPhone.

Other than troubleshooting the timestamp/date/URL issue on iOS app 3.9 and loosing my sanity, I have been work aggressively on TNW Day 54. As they say … the plot thickens. 🙂

cb

The Nudist War, TNW, Day42, HZV Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.

I am not crazy

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , , ,

Well OK … maybe a little bit

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

But at least the WP folks are aware of the Timestamp/URL issue I have been troubleshooting with iPhone App 3.9

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/01/30/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-released/#comment-61129

Posted Timestamp Issue to WordPress for iOS

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , ,

This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

If interested you may follow at:

http://ios.forums.wordpress.org/topic/timestamp-regression-on-update?replies=1#post-11606

Must have scotch …

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Grammar, Scotch, Technology, , , , , , , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/

I am happy 🙂
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

After documenting to my own satisfaction … and hopefully to your satisfaction … I need scotch. Smoky not chill filtered, no coloring added, single malt scotch.

Being unable to go back and edit my previous posts puts the kibosh on my ability to tidy up and standardize various grammatical aspects.

I am sad 😦

Mmmmm scotch

Ongoing WP Problems

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I am editing and updating Timeline, my previous post. Today is February 2nd, but after my last update of Timeline it shows up as February 1st!

<EXPLETIVE DELETED>

Wash, rinse, repeat

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Ok so I deleted Version 3.9 and I re-downloaded from the Apple iPhone App Store

The post was created @ 11:41 PM February 3rd 2014

20140203-234222.jpg

20140203-234255.jpg

1st update @ 11:44 PM 2014/02/03

20140203-234902.jpg

Kill all Apps and relaunch the WP App. View the stats

20140203-235056.jpg

2nd update at @ 11:53 2014/02/03

Note the change in the timestamp

20140203-235408.jpg

3rd update @ 11:55 2014/02/03

20140203-235555.jpg

4th update @ 11:56 2014/02/03
Note the date change. This will change the URL

20140203-235759.jpg

5th update @ 11:58 2014/02/03
Note the post order has now changed

20140204-000040.jpg

6th update @ 12:03 2014/02/04

20140204-000439.jpg

Prior to the 7th save the URL for this post is
https://contrafactual.com/2014/02/02/wash-rinse-repeat/

20140204-000740.jpg

8th update @ 12:09 2014/02/04

20140204-000955.jpg

After the 8th update the URL is now

https://contrafactual.com/2014/02/01/wash-rinse-repeat/

I hope that this clearly shows the issue I am seeing

😦

Fear of Updating or …

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

… Troubleshooting Part Two

UPDATE – I just edited this and now the posting order is out of date! This post actually follows https://contrafactual.com/2014/02/02/ongoing-wp-problems/

I also just edited Timeline and now it is timestamped yet another day earlier with a URL of https://contrafactual.com/2014/01/31/timeline/

In my previous two posts in noticed that when I updated Timeline, the creation time and URL changed. If the URL changes every time I update it screws up all of my links!

So I took a look at the activity logs.

Really geeky debug stuff follows

Continue reading Fear of Updating or … →

Post, edit, update, repeat

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Created approximately 5:58 PM

20140203-180000.jpg

Update @ 6:02 PM

20140203-180308.jpg

Upload screen capture and update @ 6:04 PM

20140203-180537.jpg

Upload image @ 6:06 PM and update

20140203-180708.jpg

Upload image @ 6:08 PM and update

20140203-180844.jpg

Repeat @ 6:10 PM

20140203-180955.jpg

Repeat @ 6:11 PM

20140203-181107.jpg

Repeat @ 6:12 PM

20140203-181305.jpg

Repeat @ 6:14 PM

20140203-181431.jpg

Repeat @ 6:16 PM

20140203-181550.jpg

Etc.

20140203-181718.jpg

QED

PS the new link function does not work. I had to manually code the HTML for the above link. Below is what I saw when I clicked the link icon

20140203-182409.jpg

Troubleshooting

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , , , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

In 42 days of Pain and WordPress iPhone App FAIL I describe the problem I am having with the latest WordPress iPhone App by Automattic (Version 3.9, January 30, 2014)

Step 1

I go to Contrafactual and choose Menu > Topics and chose Day 46

This is the URL
https://contrafactual.com/2013/10/08/day-46/

Next I use the iPhone App to edit and publish Day 46

I click on Menu > Topics and chose Day 46

No problem ???

So let me go thru all of Menu > Topics and see what links are broken

Broken links: Day 42, Day 51, Day 52, Day 53

All posts I edited on Friday January 31

Below are the URLs for the above posts

Original https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/11/hzv-day-42/
Current https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/10/hzv-day-42/

Original https://contrafactual.com/2013/12/10/day-51/
Current https://contrafactual.com/2013/12/09/day-51/

Original https://contrafactual.com/2013/12/17/day-52/
Current https://contrafactual.com/2014/01/26/day-52-2

Original https://contrafactual.com/2014/01/29/day-53/
Current https://contrafactual.com/2014/01/27/day-53/

So, yesterday updates posted to a different URL, but today there are no apparent problems. ?????

Cue Rod Serling …

Look at the time stamp on Troubleshooting below. I published this at 3:28 PM

20140201-153203.jpg

Followed by this

20140201-154830.jpg

42 Days of Pain

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Technology, , , , , , , , , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

In my previous post, I described the problem I having with the latest Version 3.9, January 30, 2014 release of the WordPress iPhone App.

When I go back to update older posts (in this case edits to the Day 42 / The Nudist War serialized novel), the update gets written to a new URL:

https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/11/hzv-day-42/ vs
https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/10/hzv-day-42/

This means that ALL of my links are now invalid. If you try to read the series you will get

20140131-215056.jpg

Really annoying 😦

I am sure that Automattic will fix this, but it could be a while.

I have submitted a public question about this at:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/iphone-app-39-saves-updates-to-a-different-url?replies=1

I don’t know if this is an iPhone-specific problem or more widespread, but if you edit an older post and the URL changes you now know why.

cb

WordPress iPhone App FAIL

Blogging, Day 42, Edits and Updates, Essay, Horror, HZV, News, Opinion, Technology, The Nudist War, , , , , ,

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
This issue has been fixed in 3.9.1

http://ios.wordpress.org/2014/02/12/wordpress-for-ios-3-9-1-released/
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The latest WordPress iPhone App by Automattic (Version 3.9, January 30, 2014) writes update to the wrong folder.

For example the first entry of Day 42 (The Nudist War) has ALWAYS been located at:
https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/11/hzv-day-42/

After editing and saving it is now located at:
https://contrafactual.com/2013/07/10/hzv-day-42/

Arrrrrgggghhhh

I discovered this after going back and editing earlier posts.

I thought the post had disappeared until I did a search on Day 42.

Next step … Contacting Automatic 😦

A conversation with CB

Blogging, Cats, Day 42, Edits and Updates, Essay, Fiction, Filler, Grammar, Humor, HZV, Opinion, Reblog, Science Fiction, Technology, Welcome to the Future, Zombies, , ,

This Friday I’m taking today off from work and were going on a road trip to Austin Texas. And by this Friday I mean today is Friday.

As you recall I got one of the brand-new iPhone 5s models.(See bragging rights)

https://contrafactual.com/2013/09/21/bragging-rights/

This post is an experiment in technology. And by this post I mean today’s post. For some reason dictation wants to use the work this when I say today.

This entire post is being dictated on my iPhone 5s. With the occasional delete for extra spaces or perhaps a type for punctuation it’s 100% dictated. You’re even getting the mistakes I’m just going back and clarifying them when I see something.

I am dictating it a sentence at a time. Because it needs to go up to the web to analyze what I’ve just said. And I don’t want to be too long string of words per dictation.

I’m learning about dictation it excepts the phrase single quote
Single quote for a carriage return. Okay that did not work let’s try something else it accepts “new – line “as a carriage return. That’s better.

Pretty slick, Anna.? Are you A a a RRR GGG HHH ask Glenn nation point!

A a a RRR GGG HHH! Did not understand our, Rather yar, But it didn’t understand “exclamation – point”! And by didn’t I meant did.

It is not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good. Backspace delete okay this commands don’t work okay those commands did not work. Return return sorry

One (space

One) I have been writing Contra factual using the iPhone almost exclusively since I got the iPhone

Two) I have been making a lot of progress on the day 42 series. There will be no date 48 teasers I hope to have it out complete in a day or two. Day 48 T-shirts. To sit up ha ha Ha. Ha ha ha day 48 teaser.

Three) I am simultaneously working on the ending of the series. But I don’t know how far to go before I start going into ending mode. As they say all good things must come to an end. They also say “this too shall pass”. Although in truth once I switched to ending mode the ending could go on quite a long time. I’m excited to get to the ending, but then endings are always sad.
Four)
Four)

Four)(Finally!) again completely dictated no corrections mean made– ––– – now I have completely forgotten but .4 was supposed to be. And by .4 I mean line for by line for I mean four)

Pi equals 3.141?

Five (

Five) to WH EW. When last I looked I had over 80 people following this blog. But I think I really only have a quarter of perhaps I half-dozen loyal readers. And by quarter I mean core. You know who you are.

Six) ignoring this particular post., Do you think my writing is good enough to publish? Specifically would you pay real money for something I wrote? More specifically would you pay real money for a digital copy of day 42 in its entirety? And finally would you recommend day 42 to others? Use the reply option to answer.

Seven) this is what I am thinking; and by “; “I meant quote: “, And by quote: “I meant quote:”. It is curious to me why sometimes it decides to print quotequotequote and it other times just a single quote.”Eddie likes cheese”. That was interesting. The logic of this thing is “inscrutable”.

Eight”) okay so this is what I am thinking. I will continue to serialize a 42 on my blog. But once I get to the point where I think it’s finished or close to finished, I will work toward assembling it into a single e-book. At which point I will go back and embellish each of the days as I see appropriate, Such that the e-book will be a more complex version of the serialize story. So my question then to my readers is: what do you buy it or recommend that someone else by it assuming is at a reasonable price for e-book like a couple of bucks bastion Mark. Ha ha Ha. And by bastion Mark, I mean “?”.

Nine) why am I going to Austin today? Number one son is getting married on Sunday. I will be enjoying a long weekend. I will be reconnecting with white okay ES. And by white okay S I mean yolks open paren E old kid sister). Sorry.. Sorry.– – S I GH– – letter Y oh Kay S. Period. Period…. Wedding of number one son. I will also the room that reuniting with my wife’s sister. Period. I will also be we uniting with my wife’s sister. And her husband. Who I knew in college.

11) need more coffee! Standby…

12 open paren
12) just shot a video of Hillary and pickles. I’ll look for it shortly after this post

As number six would say “BCNU”. LOL

As number six would say “be seeking you”

As number six would say “be C C C in I give up

That thing that number six in the show the prisoner used to say

Consistency

Day 42, Edits and Updates, Fiction, Filler, Grammar, History, HZV, Reading, Science Fiction, Zombies, , , ,

With the re-blog of Day 42, I decided to go back and start rereading to refresh my memory. I realized that the lab was on different floors of the CDC Special Circumstances building on different days. Quite a feat I’d say, wouldn’t you?

I wonder what other glaring inconsistencies I will find?

Arrrgggggg!!!!!!

Technical Advisors

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Essay, Fiction, HZV, Opinion, Zombies, ,

Stupid Technical Advisors

So instead of getting the completed Day 47 today, you are instead getting this incoherent rant about technical advisors.

The role of the technical advisor is to assure that the plot of a story, TV show, or movie stays believable within the level of “suspension of disbelief” required by the storyline. Apparently my “technical advisor” (a close friend of mine) thinks that one of my plot devices, key to Day 47, is unlikely and/or unrealistic and/or impossible within the current norms of personal behavior and/or the Laws of Physics.

Now I have to completely re-write that section, leaving you, my poor, desperate readers waiting yet another day to find out what Eddy saw.

Oh well, as long as these fixes keep you from going “Well that’s just stupid” and stop following this story altogether, the corrections are worthwhile.

Be patient.

Typing on an iPad

Blogging, Edits and Updates, Essay

As you should know by now, I maintain this blog and create all of my written content on a first generation iPad given to me by Ye Olde Kid Sister out of pity for my lack of an iPhone and other modern technology. Truth be told, my employer provided my with a giant HP laptop PC that I used for everything at work and at home. It had a whopping 2 hour battery life. I thought of it as a portable desktop with a built in UPS. Since my new position (same employer) lets me stay at my desk, I keep it chained there now.

Anyway, the iPad is FANTASTIC and I am looking forward to jumping many generations into the future this fall when the new iPads are shipping. I cannot recommend the iPad strongly enough. (Apple haters … substitute Google/Samsung/Android tablet) Tablet technology is here to stay.

But … the built-in, popup, keyboard is finicky. I don’t know if is my fat fingers, the fact that I am a hunt-and-peck typist, or auto correct, but I seem to be in a non-stop battle with my keyboard. Yeah, yeah, I know that that they make all kinds of physical keyboards for the iPad; some standalone, some attached as part of a case. But I am doing this “old school” – using the built-in keyboard (old school???)

Getting Tense Over Tense

Edits and Updates

As I go back and reread my earlier posts, I have discovered that I have a problem with tense. This is particularly true for the HZV storyline. Although I am generally writing it in present tense, there are parts that seem to make the most sense written in past tense. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have gone back and changed the tense of a passage only to read it again and change it back. This is beginning to make me very tense.

Updates

Edits and Updates, , , , ,

As I mentioned previously, every time I re-read one of my posts I see some hitherto unseen typo, punctuation error, or ambiguous phrase. Despite the fact that I obviously missed them the first (second, third, …) time, they now glare at me like a beacon at sea … a beacon on a UFO. A hundred million candle-power Close Encounters of Third Kind UFO beacon.

Like the moth to the flame I am drawn to them, and … they … must … be … fixed.

The upshot of this is that new readers of this blog will read posts that are (hopefully) a bit more polished than what the early readers saw. The downside is that the posts are subtly dynamic. I promise not to significantly change any content.

Update to the Update … My wife (you know who) read through Day 42 and found two major errors I had missed despite multiple readings. Woo hoo, I now have a proof reader!