A Cruft Free, Super Simple, WordPress Link Rendering Plugin

For this year's Omer Learning Project, I've launched a fresh WordPress instance using Lightsail. I'm utilizing the Lingonberry WordPress theme, as it's super lightweight and should work well for the site's post-centric content.

I'm using the free version of the Ultimate CSV Importer plugin to import content I plan to share every day of the Omer. This content is provided by generous members of our shul via a Google Form.

This has all been working out well: individuals can quickly contribute content, and I can easily schedule it for publication. Where things broke down, however, is that a number of the contributions included links, images, and YouTube videos. By default, these show up as plain text in the final post. For example, consider this test post:

What I wanted is for WordPress to automatically detect and render that URL as an image.

I'm sure there are a variety of plugins that do this sort of thing. The problem is that these plugins often do way more, introducing a level of complexity and noise into the site that I'm trying to avoid. In this case, it was easier to code my own plugin than to find just the right one to use. The plugin I created is named: bs-simple-formatting-fixes.

This tiny, poorly named plugin detects links in your posts and turns them into rendered content. It includes support for images, YouTube videos, and basic links. It means that the post above is automatically turned into:

You're welcome to grab this plugin and customize it to your own needs.

Chag semeach and happy counting!

Living History, IRL: Fort CF Smith

This past weekend, we hit up a Civil War living history event over at Fort CF Smith.

We got to meet and hear from the fort's namesake, Mr. Charles Ferguson himself. Smith's role as commandant of cadets at West Point meant that he came into contact with nearly all of the well-known generals of the Civil War—both Union and Confederate. He was an interesting character, and the reenactor playing him did a great job.

We then perused the relatively small encampment with my brother, sister-in-law, and G. G flitted from station to station, taking the scene in. A definite highlight was making hardtack, which G adorably pronounced hard-a-tack.

While we waited for our hard-a-tack to cook over an open fire, we walked down to a parade ground where we saw a cavalry demonstration with 5 reenactors on horses.

It's one thing to collect up and dress in Civil War kit, working on your backstory and tuning your impression. From my perspective, it's another thing altogether to do this on horseback, running Civil War-era drills and battlefield formations. Again, I was really impressed by the group that was putting on the display.

When it came time to taste our hard-a-tack, G gave it two thumbs up. Given that hardtack is essentially the same thing as matzah (it's only flour, water, and salt), I'd say that G is in good shape for the upcoming holiday of Passover, where we'll indulge in matzah for 8 days.

I'm so used to taking in living history on YouTube (thanks Townsends, Deer Skin Diary, Tasting History, Fandabi Dozi, Woodland Escape, and many, many more) that it's easy to forget that it's a genre intended to be consumed in real life. And so it was fun to get offline and into the field. I've visited Fort CF Smith a number of times, but afer this last visit, I'll never quite see it the same way again. Well played Civil War Reenactors, well played.

Visting St Louis: From Jail to the Arch

[Composed: 11/3/2023]

I just got back from visiting one of my long-time customers in St. Louis, Missouri. This customer specializes in jail communications. Think specially secured Zoom for prisoners and their loved ones.

This has been a fascinating field to write code for, as it has intense security and legal requirements that must always be met.

While I've worked for this customer for years, this was my first visit and very much felt like a homecoming. When the company started, it consisted of a few individuals; now they have grown into a truly impressive operation.

After our meetings, they asked me what I wanted to check out in the area. Simple: While I wanted to see the famous St. Louis Arch, top on my list was to go to jail. I was hoping I could see the system that I'd been working on for so many years actually deployed in the field.

They were kind enough to oblige, and in relatively short order, I found myself face to face with a hardened kiosk in a local jail that was running the comms software I'd helped build. We got a full tour of the small facility, at least the parts that didn't contain active inmates. I even got to hang out in one of the cells they use for isolating prisoners. It was all quite the experience.

After leaving jail, we made our way to the Arch. While I'd certainly seen pictures of the famous Arch since I was a kid, I'd never appreciated just how massive it is. Nor did I realize that you can go inside of it.

In the lobby, while tickets were being bought for our group, I noticed an obviously 1960s-era tram car. Hmm, I thought, back in the day, that must be what they used to ride up to the top.

Eventually we found ourselves lined up outside narrow hatches, waiting to ride to the top. The doors opened, and people climbed out. At that point, I realized that the retro car I'd seen in the lobby wasn't an artifact; it was a preview. Four of us squeezed into our tiny car and up we went.

The ride takes a few minutes isn't particularly scary. A few times, my brain tried to chime in to trigger a fear response, but I was like, "Brain, chill. It's a fancy elevator ride. We're fine with elevator rides."

The view from the top of the Arch did not disappoint, though again I found my brain trying to convince me to panic. I kept reminding myself to stay cool; the Arch hadn't been blown over in the last 60 years, and it wasn't going to blow over today.

After the Arch, we partook in another St. Louis tradition: eating Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Now, this is a tradition that I can fully get behind.

Upon ordering, they asked me if I wanted concrete or not? I mean, how could I not want concrete? Of course, I had no idea what they meant, but it was ice cream, so what could be bad about it? Apparently, 'concrete' refers to a "shake so thick that it is served upside down".

At the end of the long day, our little group returned to a shuttered office so I could grab my rental car and head to my hotel. As we pulled into the parking lot, a system alarm went off. In a few minutes, our group had laptops out on a picnic table and were debating the source and fix for the alarm. As I problem-solved with fellow programmers, in person as opposed to over Microsoft Teams, I had to smile at what a surprisingly meaningful way this turned out to be to close out the day. We'd gotten back to our roots.

A Flyby of the Key Bridge Collapse

On a flight home from Rochester, New York we flew within about 10 miles of the collapsed Key Bridge. Even at this distant vantage point the scope of the disaster is mind boggling. Wow. Just wow.

The police radio chatter seconds before the bridge collapsed showed that they reacted quickly to stop traffic, no doubt saving a significant number of lives.

The whole incident underscores a rule I try to respect: when an emergency is reported, no matter how other wordly it must be, Just Go.