Kerfuffle

I have no idea what this guy is saying...

...but I think it is techie speak for why TypePad currently sucks and why, after some help from Google Blog Search and IceRocket, it is pretty apparent that this is a major F***-up on TypePad's part.

From Sound & Fury, another TypePad blogger writes:

Due the problems and errors introduced by TypePad's new Compose editor (see this S&F post), blogging on Sounds & Fury will cease except for the most pressing items until those problems and errors have been resolved by TypePad as at this point in time we don't know just how those problems and errors will be resolved.

The formatting of all posts prior to the introduction of the new Compose editor are formatted using one consistent set of source HTML formatting code which is incompatible with the source HTML formatting code required by the new Compose editor in its present state. Specifically, the delineation of paragraphs requires the explicit presence of certain formatting tags in the source HTML for the new editor that were not required by the previous editor as the new editor does not recognize the "Convert line breaks" option recognized by the old editor. Additionally, the new editor does not recognize the "justify" text formatting specified in our theme Design, and insists on formatting all text as "left align". Until those major errors are corrected, the HTML formatting of any posts made in the new editor will be incompatible with the HTML formatting of all prior posts resulting in a "broken" blog should the blog have to be republished to accommodate the requirements of certain TypePad functions. As things stand now, if we had to republish Sounds & Fury for any reason, every single post (1096 of them at last count) would have its formatting "broken" irretrievably by the republish; a prospect we don't want to even think about.

Stay tuned for further developments.

I can only sort of follow what the heck this means.  I know this much:  Someone is NOT HAPPY over at Sounds & Fury, but he or she is a whole lot classier than I am in how they are expressing frustration at TypePad's major gaffe.  Suffice to say, though, that I no longer am wondering "Is it me?" with all these problems. 

One helpful note... Firefox seems a little better than Safari in making this "upgrade" work.  So for now I will probably just use it, stop bitching, and stop including photos and other elements that were once simple and now make me want to throw my MacBook across the room.  (Don't worry, little MacBook.  I know it isn;t your fault that TypePad apparently doesn't feel the need to include Mac OS in its "upgrade" for now.  And why should they.  It's not as if Macs and the so-called creative class have any connection, snark you very much.)

OK.  I'll shut up about this problem and move on.  But one last thing.  TypePad:  you suck.  There.  Done with it.

Now dat's a lot of your pork products der, doncha know

Madison's Brat Fest broke its own record by selling 191,712 bratwurst* over the weekend.

From the Capital Times:

There's a new record at the World's Largest Brat Fest.

Event organizers said Sunday evening that 191,712 brats were served at this year's four-day festival, breaking the record of 189,432 set in 2004.

"At 5 (p.m.) I didn't think we could get it done," organizer Tim Metcalfe said. "We went out to the (entertainment) stages and had them make an announcement that if everyone buys just one more brat we could possibly pull it off."

This thing is billed as the world's largest brat-fest, and has humble history that began in a grocery store parking lot.  Over time, it has grown to this huge gastric spectacle.  As a charity event, it raises a ton of cash for different organizations.  One has to wonder -- well, at least I have to wonder -- about certain ecological issues.  I'm not talking about carbon footprints and offsets and other stuff like that.  I am wondering about the scourge  of methane production.  As if the hundreds of thousands of cows we have belching their days away here in Wisconsin isn't enough of a concern, what about the the, umm, flatulence gneerated by all those brats being washed down with copious amounts of beer.  There was so much burping and farting going on at the Alliant Center grounds this weekend that no one even bothered to offer any polite "excuse me" pleas for forgiveness.  None expected, and your absolution is implicit.  At Brat Fest, you're among friends.

I'm not sure what our annual per capita bratwurst consumption is here in Wisconsin, but I do know that we come in dead last in a measure related loosely to Brat Fest.  As one UW Madison campus paper, the Daily Cardinal reported:

Wisconsin has the highest rates of drunk driving in the United States, according to a Wednesday report, though UW-Madison officials said it is difficult to gauge the amount on campus.

The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said 26.4 percent of Wisconsin drivers were intoxicated at least once while driving in the last year.

The states with the next-highest rates included North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. Utah was rated with the lowest amount of drunk drivers with 9.5 percent, according to the report.

We managed to avoid getting near Bratfest, mostly because we had other plans over the weekend.  But something tells me that in the grand scheme of things being far away from the Beltline and other major roads leading away from the pork and beer event  was probably a good thing.  

And, of course, please remember:  I kid because I love.  And I especially love brats and beer.

*I have it on good authority that the plural of bratwurst is... bratwurst. 

Note:  TypePad, the host of Kerfuffle, continues to have a ton of bugs in their alleged upgrade that was supposed to be ever so cool but instead ever so sucks.  Switching over to Firefox has helped some, but I again apologize for the f***ed up fonts and other stuff that you probably don't even notice but that drives my anal retentive mind nuts.  dw

Editor's note, as it were...

As you may already have read, TypePad, the hosts of this gem of a blog, "upgraded" their "Compose" page... the place I write this drivel.  And they upgraded it right into the toilet.  Since it works about as well as a paper umbrella in a hurricane, please excuse the departure from the crisp, clean, aesthetically pleasing (yet still typo-filled) postings until the TypePad geniuses get back from the holiday break, hopefully having sobered up and pulled their heads out, and get to fixing all the bugs. (Like the one that leaves the big spacing gap between the words crisp and clean above, even though there is no space in the "compose" page.  But look!  Italics is working, for now. I digress.)

Alas, it used to be a pretty blog.  But now it risks looking like that last hooker to get picked up near McCormick Place after a huge convention.  Regrettably, it is due to TypePad's bug-ridden "we don't need no stinkin' beta" upgrade.  

Oh, TypePad.  Why are you failing me now?  We used to love one another.  But you've changed.

Hey TypePad: Your "upgrade" sucks!

For over a year, I have been using TypePad as Kerfuffle's hosting service.  It's been great.

Until this week.  That's when they unleashed the new and improved user interface, which may be new, but is, well, pretty much a piece of crap.  I learned that having just spent three times the normal amount of time it should have taken to toss up a quick post (the Mars post preceding this one).  And I am PISSED.  So, I apologize for going all meta, but I need to for therapeutic purposes. 

From the Everything TypePad  page:

May 20, 2008

An Upgrade to TypePad's Compose Screen

When Chris Alden, our CEO, asked for feedback last January about the improvements you wanted to see, many of you sent in fantastic suggestions for how we could improve TypePad's Compose page. We listened to your suggestions, added functionality from your top requests, and we're excited to announce the new Compose tools are ready for release.

Ready for release?  And this guy is the CEO?  WTF?  I'm not sure he could be the assistant manager at a Taco John's if this is his idea of how to take a new product to market.  Yikes.