You know that feeling when you hear about a problem that you know is likely big and messy and a lot of work to fix? On occasions like these, great people rise to the challenge to solve the problem right away. These people often look good too, reliably send birthday cards to friends and family, and soothe crying babies with a mere wink. Mere mortals like me instead ignore major problems hoping they will go away. But they never go away. And I never learn. Even as I type this, only the bare minimum number of my brain's neurons are aware of what I'm typing while the rest are doing the neural equivalent of covering their eyes and singing loudly to themselves so they remain blissfully ignorant that their strategy of ignoring major problems is itself a major problem.
Several months ago my friend Sandy told me the current journal issue would not appear on the CFN homepage on her computer. I checked the website on a bunch of computers, and the site worked fine. But I knew there must be a problem because Sandy is tech-savvy. In fact Sandy is the Webmaster for the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, and she knows far more about servers, php, and other webstuff than me. The problem was likely difficult to find and fix. So I ignored it.
Over the holidays I replicated the problem on my in-laws' computer. Then on another computer at my parents' place. Not only was the main CFN home page not displaying the current issue automatically, but information in the "About the Journal" link was missing. Uh oh. I couldn't ignore this problem any longer. What was common to these other people's computers that I couldn't replicate on my own or my colleagues' computers? Internet Explorer. I had never tested the CFN site with Internet Explorer. I had used Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and a couple of mobile devices' browsers, but I had somehow neglected to test the site with the most common browser among CFN visitors (40% of CFN visitors use Internet Explorer according to Google Analytics). I had pasted some information into the CFN site from Microsoft Word. I now know, thanks to some help from the good people who developed our site's software, that this pasted not only the desired text into our website but also a lot of Microsoft junk code that messes with Internet Explorer browsers. It was an easy fix once I figured out the problem - just delete the junk code - but it's embarassing to realize so many visitors were viewing a sub-optimal CFN site for so long because I hadn't tested it rigourously. Lesson learned: no matter how much I dislike Internet Explorer, I must use it to test the CFN site. Some (e.g., my wife) would say I should also learn to not ignore major problems. To this my neurons close their eyes and shout "LA-LA-LA-LAAAAA."
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays, and Count Some Birds!
I hope you have a great holiday. Some of the things I love over the holidays are: family, egg nog (homemade, not that stuff stores call egg nog), Canada Juniors hockey, turkey, leftover turkey sandwiches (with cranberry sauce and stuffing), and this year seeing my son get excited about anything related to Christmas.
Looking for something fun and outdoors over the holidays? Participate in the Christmas Bird Count. People like you (even if you're not a bird expert) count the birds you see on a specific day and send the information to a local coordinator. There are counts organized between Dec 14 and Jan 5 across Canada and the USA. Bring your family and make an event of it.
Looking for something fun and outdoors over the holidays? Participate in the Christmas Bird Count. People like you (even if you're not a bird expert) count the birds you see on a specific day and send the information to a local coordinator. There are counts organized between Dec 14 and Jan 5 across Canada and the USA. Bring your family and make an event of it.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tardigrades: little beasts found inside vol 125 issue 1
I'm thinking of highlighting one or a couple of articles in each new issue of CFN. Depending on how ambitious I get, I might even have a Q&A session with some of the authors to give the "story behind the story" on how they did their research and why. These are just ideas right now - don't hold me to them. But I will at least discuss one article in 125-1 that deals with a very cool subject: Tardigrades (also known as water bears because they kinda sorta look a little like bears under the microscope).
Grothman, Gary.(2011) Tardigrades of Fish Creek Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada: A Preliminary Survey. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 125(1): 22-26.
My friend Matt Boeckner (who published a 2005 article on tardigrades in CFN) first introduced me to tardigrades a few years ago in Newfoundland. "THEY ARE AWESOME!" he told me, but I was skeptical. I studied Daphnia zooplankton at the time, and everyone knows nothing can be more awesome than Daphnia [citation needed to support my unreasonable opinion]. But the more he told me about tardigrades, and the more I learned about them since then, the more I realized that they truly are amazing because of how tough they are. They can withstand conditions too extreme for almost any other animal, including desiccation, extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation, and even outer space. They make cockroaches look dainty by comparison.
Gary Grothman surveyed the tardigrades of Fish Creek Provincial Park, Alberta. Considering most tardigrades are too small to see with the naked eye (almost always smaller than one mm long), this isn't exactly birdwatching, or even butterfly collecting. This takes patience. Basically, he took tardigrate-inhabited material (e.g., moss) and dried it, then soaked it in water and poured the water through very fine screens to collect tardigrades, then he examined the tardigrades under a microscope to identify them. He found a number of species, including eight new to Alberta and two new to Canada. People seldom have affection for little invertebrates, but biodiversity isn't just charismatic polar bears and falcons; it includes the full diversity of life. It is nice to know people like Gary are investigating the diversity of charismatic but tiny nature in Canada.
Grothman, Gary.(2011) Tardigrades of Fish Creek Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada: A Preliminary Survey. The Canadian Field-Naturalist 125(1): 22-26.
My friend Matt Boeckner (who published a 2005 article on tardigrades in CFN) first introduced me to tardigrades a few years ago in Newfoundland. "THEY ARE AWESOME!" he told me, but I was skeptical. I studied Daphnia zooplankton at the time, and everyone knows nothing can be more awesome than Daphnia [citation needed to support my unreasonable opinion]. But the more he told me about tardigrades, and the more I learned about them since then, the more I realized that they truly are amazing because of how tough they are. They can withstand conditions too extreme for almost any other animal, including desiccation, extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation, and even outer space. They make cockroaches look dainty by comparison.
Gary Grothman surveyed the tardigrades of Fish Creek Provincial Park, Alberta. Considering most tardigrades are too small to see with the naked eye (almost always smaller than one mm long), this isn't exactly birdwatching, or even butterfly collecting. This takes patience. Basically, he took tardigrate-inhabited material (e.g., moss) and dried it, then soaked it in water and poured the water through very fine screens to collect tardigrades, then he examined the tardigrades under a microscope to identify them. He found a number of species, including eight new to Alberta and two new to Canada. People seldom have affection for little invertebrates, but biodiversity isn't just charismatic polar bears and falcons; it includes the full diversity of life. It is nice to know people like Gary are investigating the diversity of charismatic but tiny nature in Canada.
Say hello to Diphascon granifer, one of two species reported new to Canada by Gary Grothman in The Canadian Field-Naturalist. Image courtesy of Gary Grothman.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Little tiny owl spotted on CFN website (and it's spotting you too)
You know those mini-icons that appear in your web browser's tabs and Favourites bookmarks? For example, there should be an orange-background "B" (for Blogger) mini-logo on your tab for this website. These are called favicons (because they appear in your Favourites list). They are not really essential for anything, but they look kinda purdy and give an extra opportunity to brand your website.
I figured out how to make a favicon for the CFN site. I did this after my Mozilla Firefox browser updated to the latest version this week, and now any website without a favicon has a blank dotted box where the favicon should be. The blank box reminds me of when I circle a missing answer on students' tests; it draws attention to the absence of a contribution. So I did some Googling to figure out what these logos are called, how I can make one, and how to add one to my site. Favicons are only 16 pixels x 16 pixels in dimension. That's pretty small! You can't be very elaborate with 16x16 dots.
I started by making the letters "CFN" in 16x16 dimension. It looked budget. My son could've done a better job, and he eats crayons. So I found a site where you can upload images and convert them into 16x16 favicons. Obviously you can't expect Mona Lisas on such a small canvas, but I was pleasantly surprised at the detail it could achieve. So I decided to make a favicon for the OFNC's owl logo. Now when you go to the CFN site the owl head will be staring out at you from your web browser's tab. Watching you like a haw... like an owl. I don't think people would peg it as an owl if they looked at it in isolation, but considering the large version of the image appears at the top of all CFN web pages I hope people will make the link. Or at least I hope they won't misconstrue the favicon as something crude and boycott our journal.
If you're interested favicons for your site, here are the resources I used.
http://www.favicon.cc/ - favicon creator.
http://pkp.sfu.ca/support/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7663 - forum discussion with instructions on how to add a favicon to journal websites using Open Journal Systems software (which CFN uses).
http://www.scientificillustrator.com/illustration/favicons.html - has some nice nature-related favicons for free, as long as you give credit to their website. I didn't use any, but I was tempted to.
I figured out how to make a favicon for the CFN site. I did this after my Mozilla Firefox browser updated to the latest version this week, and now any website without a favicon has a blank dotted box where the favicon should be. The blank box reminds me of when I circle a missing answer on students' tests; it draws attention to the absence of a contribution. So I did some Googling to figure out what these logos are called, how I can make one, and how to add one to my site. Favicons are only 16 pixels x 16 pixels in dimension. That's pretty small! You can't be very elaborate with 16x16 dots.
I started by making the letters "CFN" in 16x16 dimension. It looked budget. My son could've done a better job, and he eats crayons. So I found a site where you can upload images and convert them into 16x16 favicons. Obviously you can't expect Mona Lisas on such a small canvas, but I was pleasantly surprised at the detail it could achieve. So I decided to make a favicon for the OFNC's owl logo. Now when you go to the CFN site the owl head will be staring out at you from your web browser's tab. Watching you like a haw... like an owl. I don't think people would peg it as an owl if they looked at it in isolation, but considering the large version of the image appears at the top of all CFN web pages I hope people will make the link. Or at least I hope they won't misconstrue the favicon as something crude and boycott our journal.
If you're interested favicons for your site, here are the resources I used.
http://www.favicon.cc/ - favicon creator.
http://pkp.sfu.ca/support/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7663 - forum discussion with instructions on how to add a favicon to journal websites using Open Journal Systems software (which CFN uses).
http://www.scientificillustrator.com/illustration/favicons.html - has some nice nature-related favicons for free, as long as you give credit to their website. I didn't use any, but I was tempted to.
Monday, September 26, 2011
the website ... IT'S (A)LIVE!!!!
omg, lol, rofl! The new CFN site is live and it's anhc (amazing natural history content ... I just made that accronym up but I doubt it will catch on).
If you are one of the two people who follow this blog (hi Mom!) then you'll know I've spent a lot of time, frustration, and drinks setting up a new website for CFN. Well, it's done*. Go see the website for yourself.
www.
We've also published a new issue (volume 125 issue 1) that represents the first issue published by our new Editor-in-Chief Dr. Carolyn Callaghan. There is some excellent natural history research in this issue, but it deserves its own blog post so I'll let you read it yourself and then I'll write a post soon telling you how awesome some of the research is (e.g., killer loons ... I'm not even kidding!).
* The site is not fully done, and likely never will be. Good websites are constantly improving, and ours is no exception. I have a long list of things I intend to set up over the coming days/weeks/months that should improve the experience for readers, journal volunteers, reviewers, editors, and authors. The items highest on my to-do list will affect authors, editors, and reviewers - online manuscript management. What could go wrong?
If you are one of the two people who follow this blog (hi Mom!) then you'll know I've spent a lot of time, frustration, and drinks setting up a new website for CFN. Well, it's done*. Go see the website for yourself.
www.
We've also published a new issue (volume 125 issue 1) that represents the first issue published by our new Editor-in-Chief Dr. Carolyn Callaghan. There is some excellent natural history research in this issue, but it deserves its own blog post so I'll let you read it yourself and then I'll write a post soon telling you how awesome some of the research is (e.g., killer loons ... I'm not even kidding!).
* The site is not fully done, and likely never will be. Good websites are constantly improving, and ours is no exception. I have a long list of things I intend to set up over the coming days/weeks/months that should improve the experience for readers, journal volunteers, reviewers, editors, and authors. The items highest on my to-do list will affect authors, editors, and reviewers - online manuscript management. What could go wrong?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The software works (or: Shoo Hackers - Don't Bother Me!)
Our journal's new website is almost fully-functional now. The latest step has been upgrading the website software to the latest version. The new version has a bunch of features that should improve functionality on the back-end for me (e.g., improved subscription management), and a few features for readers and authors too. But the main reason the upgrade went from a "I'll do it later" to "I need to do it now" was a security fix. Our website had been hacked, as had a bunch of other journal websites using this software.
A popular way to hack a site is to make some malicious code in an executable (.exe) file and submit it to the website to run. Sometimes hackers do this to take over the site to divert visitors to some site for which they receive financial benefit from the number of visitors. Sometimes hackers are just jerks who like to mess around with other people's websites - it's how they get their kicks. Weirdos, I know. Anyway, we got hacked so our website was diverting people to some pseudo-search engine. Our Jedi server hosts fixed the problem quickly.
Apparently a hacker had figured out a way to upload malicious .exe files to journal websites running Open Journal Systems software. The software guards against these types of files, but there was a loophole (.exe files could be submitted as cover photo files). The developers quickly fixed the problem in a new version of the software and urged everyone to upgrade to the new version. So over the past couple of weeks our server Jedis, the software developers (who always take the time to answer my tech-illiterate questions), and I have figured out the troubleshooting required for any upgrading and we upgraded our software. It seems to work fine so far. And it look perrty too.
The fourth and final issue of volume 124 is almost ready for printing. This will mark the last of Dr. Francis Cook's tenure as CFN's Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Carolyn Callaghan is rarin' to go with volume 125. Volume 125 will also mark the official opening of our new website. We can't really have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a website so I don't know how we'll celebrate a website "opening", but it will likely involve fewer speeches (yay!) and maybe more drinks (yay!) than a ribbon-cutting ceremony. If you feel like you want to participate in our celebration, I invite you to visit the journal website and have a drink. While you might technically be drinking alone while looking at a journal website, it can be a celebration in your mind.
A popular way to hack a site is to make some malicious code in an executable (.exe) file and submit it to the website to run. Sometimes hackers do this to take over the site to divert visitors to some site for which they receive financial benefit from the number of visitors. Sometimes hackers are just jerks who like to mess around with other people's websites - it's how they get their kicks. Weirdos, I know. Anyway, we got hacked so our website was diverting people to some pseudo-search engine. Our Jedi server hosts fixed the problem quickly.
Apparently a hacker had figured out a way to upload malicious .exe files to journal websites running Open Journal Systems software. The software guards against these types of files, but there was a loophole (.exe files could be submitted as cover photo files). The developers quickly fixed the problem in a new version of the software and urged everyone to upgrade to the new version. So over the past couple of weeks our server Jedis, the software developers (who always take the time to answer my tech-illiterate questions), and I have figured out the troubleshooting required for any upgrading and we upgraded our software. It seems to work fine so far. And it look perrty too.
The fourth and final issue of volume 124 is almost ready for printing. This will mark the last of Dr. Francis Cook's tenure as CFN's Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Carolyn Callaghan is rarin' to go with volume 125. Volume 125 will also mark the official opening of our new website. We can't really have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a website so I don't know how we'll celebrate a website "opening", but it will likely involve fewer speeches (yay!) and maybe more drinks (yay!) than a ribbon-cutting ceremony. If you feel like you want to participate in our celebration, I invite you to visit the journal website and have a drink. While you might technically be drinking alone while looking at a journal website, it can be a celebration in your mind.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Canada Post and CFN
UPDATE: Canada Post is back to work and mail delivery will be back to normal starting today (June 28).
Canada Post is currently in a labour dispute, and as a result there is currently no mail delivery. I've heard some people talk about how they don't need mail anymore since they get most bills, letters, etc. online. While I agree that the Internet has reduced people's reliance on postal mail, postal mail is still important. CFN is certainly impacted by the labour dispute.
CFN sends author invoices, subscription invoices, and of course printed issues by postal mail. I am working on ways to shift our invoicing from postal to electronic mail (e-mail is faster, cheaper, and less of a pain in the butt to file than paper), but we will still rely on Canada Post for a lot of CFN affairs. Mail delivery has been suspended for about a week so far. We hope the dispute will be resolved before the next CFN issue is ready to be mailed. We apologize to anyone who has tried to mail us correspondence in the past couple of weeks - your mail should get to us once the labour dispute is over. If the dispute continues for a long time we will provide an update on how we will proceed with CFN operations without the benefit postal mail (I really hope the dispute won't be lengthy).
Canada Post is currently in a labour dispute, and as a result there is currently no mail delivery. I've heard some people talk about how they don't need mail anymore since they get most bills, letters, etc. online. While I agree that the Internet has reduced people's reliance on postal mail, postal mail is still important. CFN is certainly impacted by the labour dispute.
CFN sends author invoices, subscription invoices, and of course printed issues by postal mail. I am working on ways to shift our invoicing from postal to electronic mail (e-mail is faster, cheaper, and less of a pain in the butt to file than paper), but we will still rely on Canada Post for a lot of CFN affairs. Mail delivery has been suspended for about a week so far. We hope the dispute will be resolved before the next CFN issue is ready to be mailed. We apologize to anyone who has tried to mail us correspondence in the past couple of weeks - your mail should get to us once the labour dispute is over. If the dispute continues for a long time we will provide an update on how we will proceed with CFN operations without the benefit postal mail (I really hope the dispute won't be lengthy).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)