My yearly reading goal is 52 books or a book a week. I surpassed this in 2011 and read 95 books. Many of these were series that weren’t that challenging, such as the Sue Grafton and Jim Butcher books. I also became obsessed with Laura Lippman and ready everything she has written.

I’ve decided to challenge myself a bit more in 2012 and one of the first books I’ve read is The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. I’m also planning on reading 1Q84 by Murakami, Infinte Jest by David Foster Wallace and to read the Neal Stephenson’s that have been next to my bed for years. I’m also going to try to read more non-fiction.

Here are the books I read the 2nd half of 2011

1. What the Dead Know – Laura Lippman – A woman claims to be a missing girl who disappeared 30 years earlier in this stand-alone thriller.
2. Baltimore Blues – Laura Lippman – The first in the Tess Monaghan series. I usually read series in order but I deviated from this with Lippman – I read them in the order I was able to get them from the library.
3. Sugar House – Laura Lippman – Another Tess Monaghan mystery.
4. Smokin’ Seventeen – Janet Evanovich – I keep saying I’m going to stop reading this series because for a while now Evanovich has been writing the same story over and over. The books used to be hilarious and now they are just dull. Maybe I’ll stop – I haven’t bothered reading the newest one yet.
5. Gone Tomorrow – Lee Child – The 13th Jack Reacher thriller, which takes place in New York City. Most of the books I’ve read by him have rural settings and this was a refreshing change.
6. The Gunslinger – Stephen King – This is the first installment of Steven King’s fantasy series, The Dark Tower, which follows the story of the Gunslinger Roland, the equivalent of an Arthurian knight in the world King has created, and his quest to reach the Dark Tower in order to make the world right again.
7. Running Blind – Lee Child – The 4th Jack Reacher thriller. Women are being murdered, there is no physical evidence and the only thing they have in common is that they know Jack Reacher.
8. Charm City – Laura Lippman – Another Tess Monaghan mystery, which all take place in Baltimore.
9. Butchers Hill – Laura Lippman – The 3rd in the Tess Monaghan series.
10. By A Spider’s Thread – Laura Lippman – In the 8th Tess Monaghan mystery, Tess helps a man locate his missing wife. She usually refuses to take missing spouse cases but make an exception and ends up with a surprising result.
11. I’d Know You Anywhere – Laura Lippman – A woman received a letter from a man on death row who kidnapped her over 20 years earlier.
12. One Shot – Lee Child – A sniper kills 5 people and Jack Reacher investigates.
13. Another Thing to Fall – Laura Lippman – In the 10th in the Tess Monaghan series, Tess is hired to guard the female lead of a production filming in Baltimore.
14. Life Sentences – Laura Lippman – Based on a true story about a woman who was held in prison for seven years for contempt because she refused to answer questions about the disappearance of the son.
15. The Talisman – Stephen King & Peter Straub – I thought I would love this one but I didn’t – I thought a lot of it was dull. Maybe I don’t care for co-authored novels. Young Jack makes a journey across America and into another realm to help save his dying mother.
16. Deadline – Mira Grant – The 2nd book in the Newsflesh trilogy, which is about zombies and bloggers.
17. Ghost Story – Jim Butcher – After the events in the last Dresden novel, Harry has returned as a ghost. I didn’t love this one or maybe I’m just tired of the series.
18. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Random Riggs – A fantasy about an abandoned orphanage, a mysterious island, and vintage photographs.
19. The Most Dangerous Thing – Laura Lippman – Circumstances force 5 people, who were friends as children, to relive the lie they have all shared.
20. A is for Alibi – Sue Grafton – I thought I would give this series a try and quickly became obsessed. I like the main character, Kinsey Millhone, and the stories. The author started this series in the 80′s and the lack of technology is interesting especially when Kinsey is in danger and is trying to find a pay phone.
21. B is for Burgler – Sue Grafton – The 2nd in the alphabet series.
22. In Big Trouble – Laura Lippman – Another Tess Monaghan mystery. Yeah, I’m getting tired of them too.
23. C is for Corpse – Sue Grafton – Kinsey tried to assist a victim of attempted murder who suffers from memory loss.
24. D is for Deadbeat – Sue Grafton – Kinsey is hired to deliver a check. She thinks it seems fishy but needs the money for rent. She quickly learns that if your instinct says to turn down a job that you probably should.
25. E is for Evidence – Sue Grafton – In addition to a great mystery we also learn more about Kinsey’s past.
26. F is for Fugitive – Sue Grafton – Kinsey travels to Florida to attempt to solve a 17 year old murder.
27. The Informationist – Taylor Stevens – Vanessa deals in gathering information about developing countries for corporations. She takes on a client who wants her to find his missing daughter in Africa. I thought I would love this book but I didn’t.
28. G is for Gumshoe – Sue Grafton – Kinsey is hired to locate a woman’s mother who has been missing for 7 months.
29. H is for Homicide – Sue Grafton – Kinsey’s friend and colleague is murdered and she tries to discover what happened.
30. I is for Innocent – Sue Grafton – Yet another in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series
31. J is for Judgement – Sue Grafton – Kinsey is hired to find a man who may have faked his own death and collected the insurance money.
32. *Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker – Kevin Mitnick – A former hacker who was once on the FBI’s most wanted online criminals tells his story about how he infiltrated companies by using technology and social engineering. He is now a security consultant. I loved this book.
33. My Korean Deli – Ben Ryder Howe – A New Yorker buys a deli for his Korean in-laws. I liked the idea of this book but I wanted it to be funny and thought it was whiny and boring.
34. *Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground – Kevin Poulsen – Written by a former hacker who spent 5 years in prison, this book reads like a thriller and is about another hacker how took over a online criminal network that was stealing tons of money from the U.S. economy.
35. Zone One – Colson Whitehead – This novel is about the clean-up of New York City following a zombie apocalypse. While I enjoyed it I think it was too literary for the zombie crowd and too gruesome for those wanting literature. It did make me want to read more by this author although I haven’t yet.
36. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination – Margaret Atwood – A series of essays that explores Atwood’s relationship with the science fiction genre.
37. Green River Killer: A True Detective Story – Jeff Jensen – The author’s father spent most of his career investigation the Seattle serial killer and Jensen present the story as a graphic novel.
38. The Affair – Lee Child – The newest in the Jack Reacher series.
39. *Ready Player One – Ernest Cline – My favorite book of 2011. In this dystopian future most of the action takes place inside of a virtual world where a number of players are trying to solve a contest that would make them the heir of one of the richest men in the world. Full of references to the 1980′s, this may appeal more to people of my generation but you don’t need to like video games or the 80′s to enjoy this book.
40. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins – While I appreciated the idea between this dytopian tale, this book didn’t work for me. I didn’t care about the characters – they could have all died and I wouldn’t have felt anything. If I was a YA, I may have enjoyed this more.
41. Fuzzy Nation – John Scalzi – A powerful corporation is allowed to strip planets of all resources if no sentient life is found. Little creatures that look like cats live on the planet in this novel and the main character becomes their protector. I really enjoyed this quick read and decided to read more by this author.
42. No Good Deeds – Laura Lippman – Tess Monaghan’s boyfriend invites a homeless teenage to stay with them and a lot of things start to go wrong.
43. To The Power of Three – Laura Lippman – Three girls have been best friends since they were children. One shoots herself at school and the community tries to discover what really happened.
44. The Girl in the Green Raincoat – Laura Lippman – Tess Monaghan tried to solve a case while on forced bed rest. I didn’t care for this one and I may have overdid it with the Laura Lippman.
45. Reamde – Neal Stephenson – A techno-thriller that is probably one of Stephenson’s most accessible works. I missed the challenge.
46. And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut – Charles J Shields – A very interesting biography of Vonnegut. Unfortunately, it made me like him less – sometimes knowing more about an author you admire is not a good thing.
47. Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded – John Scalzi – A collection of Scalzi’s essays from his blog. At first I really enjoyed them and then I get tired of being lectured at. They are probably better in smaller doses. It’s a great book title though.
48. The Family Fang – Kevin Wilson – Performance artists use their children as part of the act. How do these two children turn out? This book got pretty great reviews but I couldn’t get into it.
49. K is for Killer – Sue Grafton – Kinsey looks into the death of a woman’s daughter that remains unsolved after 10 months.
50. L is for Lawless – Sue Grafton – The 12th in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series and I need a break.
51. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? – Mindy Kaling – I’m glad this was a quick read because I didn’t like it. I thought it would be funny because the author is on and is one of the writers for The Office but it wasn’t. She likes shopping – who cares?
52. The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt – Great title! A quirky Western about two brothers who basically earn their living by killing people.
53. 11/22/63 – Stephen King – What if you could go back in time and keep Kennedy from being assassinated? What if you fell in love in this other time period? Overall, I liked this book but 300 pages could have easily been cut (King may need more editing) and it was saved by the ending.

How about you? Did you read many books last year? Do you have any favorites? If interested, you can connect with me on Goodreads.

photo credit: jm3

This post contains affiliate links.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

What to Read Next: Books Read the 2nd Half of 2011

And this has been a year for series. I worked through the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, I reading the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child and am on my way in reading every book by Laura Lippman.

I’ve put an asterisk next to my favorites. There a couple on this list that I really didn’t like at all – don’t get me started on The Discovery of Witches. And the list doesn’t include the ones I started and didn’t finish – I usually have quite a few of those by the end of the year. I either couldn’t stand the book and figure life is too short and there are too many unread book to waste my time or I lost interest.

1. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher- I had previously read the first two in this series and then stopped. The 2nd one was about werewolves and even though I really like fantasy and supernatural stuff, I’m not interested in werewolves. Anyway, I lost interest and it took me awhile to continue the series – as you can see from this list, however, I regained interest and read them all.
2. Death Masks: A Novel of the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, Book 5) by Jim Butcher – #5 in The Dresden Files. I read #4 before #3 but all the rest were read in order – I’m a little obsessive about reading series in order.
3. Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin – This book was a total waste of time. The mystery wasn’t interesting, the character was dull, and it wasn’t funny even though the description said it was hilarious.
4. *The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman – this novel is primarily about two very different sisters and a little bit about cookbooks. I really don’t get Goodman being called the Jane Austen of the modern era but it’s still a very enjoyable story.
5. Blood Rites: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher – More Dresden files. This list is full of Jim Butcher.
6. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher – And more.
7. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher – even more.
8. White Night by Jim Butcher – Isn’t Kim sick of this series yet?
9. Small Favor by Jim Butcher – Wow, 6 of this series in a row.
10. *The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman – This is one of my 5 favorite authors. This is a novel containing stories about a town through 200 years of history. As with most of Hoffman’s works, this novel is magical realism and reads like a fairy tale. But a fairy tale like the original Grimms rather than the Disney versions.
11. The Temporal Void by Peter Hamilton – The second in this sci-fi series that alternates between a technologically advanced culture far in the future and a parallel universe (? the void) where magic or mental abilities rule rather than technology. It’s always one or the other in fantasy and sci-fi.
12. *Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang – When I was a kid we got two television stations so I didn’t see many shows when I was growing up. On the weekends I would watch almost any movie that was on – I liked Elvis movies and old Tarzan films. I also enjoyed the Charlie Chan films. Of course, at the time I didn’t know that they were politically incorrect – I’m not even sure if the term politically incorrect existed in the 70′s. At any rate, I was eager to read this book which is about the real life Chinese detective in Hawaii who inspired the author of the novels, the author of the novels, the actors who played Charlie Chan, and how the films fell out of favor.
13. Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability by David Owen – As I live in a city I am always interested in books and articles that show that living in an urban environment is a “greener” solution. I could not, however, take the work that seriously since the author lives in the middle of nowhere lives miles from everything and drives everywhere. It’s like this is the best solution for the environment but don’t expect me to do it. Meh.
14. Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue – As with many books that people are raving about I didn’t like it as much as I expected. I think my expectations get raised so high that I can’t help but be disappointed. This is about a woman and her 5 year old who are prisoners in a shed like space by the man who kidnapped his mother. The boy has lived there his entire life and that room is his world. What makes this book so interesting is that it’s told in the boy’s voice.
15. *The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman – This was an Alice Hoffman that I planned on reading when it came out but then skipped because I thought it was going to be too sad and I wasn’t in the mood for sad. It was sad – it actually made me cry but I loved it. It’s about 3 sisters and a ton of stuff that happens to them through their lives – and if I have one complaint it seems like an awful lot happened to one family – almost like a soap opera.
16. The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids by Tom Hodgkinson – How being a lazy laid back parent is better than scheduling, hovering and smothering. This is told in a humorous way and makes a lot of sense. Hodkinson spends a lot of time talking about drinking, smoking, and avoiding work so I can only take him so seriously but I still enjoyed it.
17. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher – I think there’s one more.
18. *Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi – This is about economics and crooks. In particular it’s about what brought about the economic collapse of 2008 and why we had to bailout the banks. If you can read this and not get angry, then you must work for Wall Street. Taibbi swears a lot but I enjoy his writing style anyway.
19. The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste by Tom Hodgkinson – More being lazy, working as little as possible, and enjoying life more. It’s a good read when you are feeling overwhelmed. I have to admit that I’ve minimized my “needs” so I don’t need much to life on and can then afford to work less.
20. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde – This is another one of my 5 top authors. This installment of the Thursday Next literary detective series didn’t really work for me. I didn’t think it was as funny as the others and – well, I don’t know how to explain why I didn’t like it without giving away the plot. It’s still a good book but it’s not as good as his others.
21. Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz – I love the Spellman series by Lisa Lutz – really super funny. One of the best characters is her lawyer, Mort Schilling, who is over 80 years old. Anyway, in this book Lisa Lutz alternates writing chapters with her ex-boyfriend and it includes emails they sent to each other arguing about the plot. It’s a great idea but it didn’t work and I didn’t like it. I hope she goes back to the Spellmans or another series.
22. Bossypants by Tina Fey – If you like Tina Fey, you will love this book. If you don’t care for her, you probably won’t bother reading it. It was hilarious.
23. *The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – This was amazing. Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 at the age of 30 from cancer. A sample of her cells was taken and these HeLA cells exist in labs all over the world, have been used for research and even contributed to the cure for polio. Their use in medical research has been beyond compare but while pharmaceutical companies have profited extensively her descendants are for the most part very poor.
24. Kraken by China Mieville – I loved the first Mieville book I read but since then I haven’t cared for them as much. But, he keeps winning tons of awards and I keep reading them. Maybe I will end up liking one of them as much as Perdido Street Station. This book is about a giant squid in a museum and lots of other weird stuff.
25. The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard – Fortunately, this one was shot because I couldn’t stand it. It’s about a high school student who disappears without a trace and who this affects her friends throughout their lives – pretty much how it affected the guys – the woman are mostly wives and girlfriends but not really characters. Blech.
26. *The World Is a Ball: The Joy, Madness, and Meaning of Soccer by John Doyle – A book about Doyle falling into sports writing accidentally and the major soccer events he has covered. I enjoyed his memories.
27. Changes by Jim Butcher – The last one for awhile. Although the new Dresden novel, Ghost Story, is coming out at the end of this month.
28. *Started Early, Took My Dog – This is another of my favorite authors unlike China Mieville, she never disappoints me. ;-) In this one a retired detective sees a child being abused by her mother and gives the mother money in exchange for the child.
29. My New American Life by Francine Prose – A less interesting story that it could have been about a female immigrant from Albania working as a nanny in New Jersey.
30. Striptease by Carl Hiaasen – I love this author. I thought I had read everything by him but realized that I had missed two of them. This book was turned into a terrible movie with Demi Moore but don’t let that keep you from reading this off-beat mystery.
31. The Wise Man’s Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 2) by Patrick Rothfuss – The eagerly awaited second installment in The Kingkiller Chronicles. Around page 600 I got really annoyed with the story but when you’ve invested that much time you’ve got to read the whole 1,000 pages. I will read the 3rd in the trilogy when it comes out but am not as in love with this fantasy series as I was after reading the first one.
32. I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne – I’m not a fan of Ozzy, Heavy Metal or bios but this book intrigued me. Much of it disturbed me but what really amazes me is that he is still alive – I can’t believe the amount of drugs he did.
33. Nightmare in Pink (Travis McGee, No. 2) by John D. MacDonald – This mystery writer was recommended to me but I didn’t really care for the first one I read. I might try another one but I think they may have become a bit dated – most were written in the 60′s and 70′s. One of my favorite authors, Carl Hiaasen, considers MacDonald to be one of his inspirations but maybe I needed to read them when they came out. And, believe it or not, I’m not old enough to have done that for most of his books ;-)
34. *Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks – This is a fictional account of the true story of the first Native American to attend Harvard University. But, it’s really the story of the woman who meets and knows Caleb during his short life.
35. Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen – Hiassen’s first novel. Somehow I started this one but misplaced it and didn’t finish. It’s not as strong as his later works but it’s interesting to see how his enviro-Florida wacky mysteries started.
36. 61 Hours: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child – A Jack Reacher thriller – thriller’s aren’t my genre but I really liked this and am now working through the other 13 novels in the Reacher series. Reacher is an ex-military guy who is very stoic, anti-materialistic, and his for justice based on his own moral code rather than a legal one. I’ve read that this is one of the few thriller series that appeals to both men and women.
37. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness – I don’t know how you make vampires, witches, and demons boring but Harkness has succeeded. I don’t know why this book is so popular and I will not be continuing this series. I will read just about anything but I consider the time I spent on it a huge waste. I disliked it more than The DaVinci Code and that’s saying a lot – anyone who knows me in person has heard me rant about that book and the film The English Patient – ugh.
38. Worth Dying For: A Reacher Novel by Lee Child – the most recent installment of the Reacher series. As you can see from the rest of this list, this is probably going to be the summer of Lee Child and Laura Lippman.
39. Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman – Two girls committ a terrible crime and years later they get out of juvenile detention. Everyone who this case affected appears in this story and the characters are so full and believable. The characters are almost all women though – the male ones exist on the periphery.
40. The Last Place by Laura Lippman – the 7th in the Tess Monaghan series. Tess is an accidental private detective who lives in Baltimore. I haven’t been reading this series on order, which is bothering me, but my library hasn’t been able to get them for me as fast as I want to read them.
41. The Hard Way: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child – Another novel with Jack Reacher kicking butt.
42. Bad Luck and Trouble: A Reacher Novel (Reacher Series) by Lee Child – And yet another Reacher.

How about you? Got any recommendations from some great books you’ve read this year? Read any on this list that you loved or hated? I am on Goodreads, if you want to connect there. It’s a great place to discover new books based on what your friends are reading.

photo credit: nseika

This post contains affiliate links.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

What to Read: Books Read the First Half of 2011

Recently I was asked how the friends list on the left side if the new Facebook profile could be edited or modified. The user said that the friends that always show up are not her most frequent contacts.

Unfortunately, this list can not be edited in that manner and I don’t know what determines who shows up there – perhaps it is random. There are, however, a some things you can do to so that you have the friends you interact with the most in a sidebar block.

On the Facebook profile page:

1. Go to the Friends box on the left side of the page and click on the pencil icon to edit.
   
2. The Create New List link will allow you to make a list of your frequently contacted friends that will then display on your sidebar.
3. If you already have a list, you can click on the Add an existing list or group link. Check the box next to the list and then Save. For example, I have a list called NH (New Hampshire) that is a list of people I grew up with. Not all of them still live there or were necessarily from there but it’s a list of people I knew growing up. If I click on this link, I can select that list and it will display on my sidebar above the list of all of my friends.
   
4. The box will only show three friends but by clicking on the title I can have quick access to the friends in my NH list.

If you want to make a special friends box but don’t necessarily want your friends to know that some friends are more special than others you can hide it from everyone but you in your privacy settings. This, however, will also hide your full list of friends from everyone but you. Unfortunately they can’t be separated.

1. Go to Account > Privacy Settings.
2. Under Connecting on Facebook on the top of the page, select the View Settings link.
   
3. In the dropdown to the right of ‘See My Friends List’, select Custom and then Only Me.
   

As with most things Facebook, we can’t edit our list of friends to have specific ones show up in the sidebar but we can use lists to help us find our closest contacts more easily. It’s a sort of workaround Facebook style.

photo credit: gwennypics

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

How to Edit the List of Facebook Friends on the New Profile Sidebar

If you are anything like me, you are annoyed by most ads that are presented to you on Facebook. Very rarely do I see on that I am interested in and it’s usually for a fan page.

Admittedly, I don’t like any advertising and is the probably why I don’t watch much television. During the Super Bowl so many people said that they were only watching the game for the ads and I kept thinking that ads were the last thing that I would want to see. Of course, advertising is so pervasive that it isn’t possible to be free from them.

The Facebook ads that bother me the most are the ones that target me based on my age and gender. As a 41 year old woman my biggest concern must be hiding wrinkles. ;-)

And I seem to spend a lot of my time on Facebook removing ads. It amuses me that Facebook asks for a reason why you removed it – I always want to select offensive even though I’m offended by advertising overall more than the particular ad. ;-)

I recently came across a Facebook page that will show you ALL of the ads being targeted to you and you can quickly remove them from there. Once logged into Facebook this page is available. This page makes it easier for me to quickly weed out ads.

Of course, I used to block all of them with the Ad Blocker extension in Firefox but I’ve been doing some tests with Facebook ads and needed to be able to see them. And Ad Blocker is a controversial extension.

photo credit: Gianni D.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

How to See All the Ads Being Served to You on Facebook

My portfolio page is created using posts and is not a static page like the About page. I did this to easily add and remove entries and so that the page didn’t become too large. It will display a set number of entries like any other blog post page.

The portfolio entries are in the category, portfolio. The code on the portfolio is set to only display that category.

I also use the Ultimate Category Excluder plugin so that the category does not display in my archives or in my rss feed. I’m hoping to spend some time on code based solution for that as well.

I realized that the Portfolio category was still showing up in the list of categories in the sidebar. I was using the Category Widget, because it’s easy, even though I’m not a big fan of widgets. The only way I could determine to exclude the category from the widget was by editing wp-includes/widget.php. For a brief moment that seemed like a really good idea. But every time I upgrade WordPress I would overwrite that file or I would have to save and redo my edits. So, not such a great idea after all.

Instead I used the list categories function and excluded the category that I didn’t want displayed. Here’s what I did:

1. In Manage > Categories I hovered over the name of the category and got the id number that I wanted to exclude in the browser status bar. In this instance the number is 276.
   

   http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/wp-admin/categories.php?action=edit&cat_ID=276

2. In Design > Widgets I removed the Category Widget and added a Text one.
3. In the new text widget, I gave it the title Categories and added the following code:
   

   <?php wp_list_categories('orderby=name&exclude=276&title_li='); ?>
   

4. If you want to exclude multiple categories, put a comma between each ID number.
5. If you don’t have a widgetized sidebar, you can add the code to your sidebar where your current archive code is located.

That’s all there is to it. I don’t know why it took me so long to notice it was in the list. I also don’t know why I was being a dunce about the solution; it’s very similar to excluding a page from the navigation bar.

Useful? Do you have a need for this? Do you think you will use it?

photo credit: felinebird

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

How to Exclude a Category From the Sidebar List in WordPress

• 30 Exceptional Gimp Tutorials and Resources – Last week I posted a tutorial for Photoshop and Gimp. Ajith mentioned that he wanted to learn Gimp so I located this list of resources in my bookmarks. If you want to learn all kinds of special effects with this free open source software, this is the place to start.
• 8 Common Sense Tips For Writing Clean WordPress Blog Posts 8 Tips for Using the Visual Text Editor in WordPress. This is an awesome guide and one I know I’m going to refer people to frequently.
• Is Blogging Keeping You Poor – Copyblogger discusses how hard many bloggers work for little reward. Possible solutions are partnerships and delegation.
• 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7 Aaron Brazell, from Technosailor, takes a comprehensive look at WordPress 2.7, which is due out at the end of the month. This is the best guide I’ve encountered so far as all of the pertinent information is included in one location.
• 145 MUST READ free business related eBooks A great selection of free ebooks. There is something for everyone here.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 11/23/08

• How I Moved From Blogger to WordPress – Ari Herzog describes the process he took when moving from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress. This is usually useful for others thinking of making the switch.
• Eco Savvy Blogging Tips I wrote a guest post for Green & Clean Mom while she was at BlogHer. The article lists four ways you can blog a little greener. Check out other green articles while you are over there because it’s a great site.
• A National Shame: The Mentally Ill Homeless – Mike Nichols wrote an article about the mentally ill homeless as his contribution to Blog Action Day 08. The article is informative and disturbing. How can such a wealthy nation allow so many sick people to live in the street?
• Poverty in Pictures – Pro Blog Design shows us the impact of poverty on children though photographs.
• 97 Remarkable Ways to Diversify Your Network in a Down Economy – Over at My Tropical Escape, Mark Hayward lists 97 people to follow on Twitter. Mark is super nice and is one of the people responsible for the launch of Train for Humanity so you bet that that the people on this list are worth following.
• The African Dichotomy of Hope and Despair Chris Guillebeau writes about poverty in Africa and discusses how things we can do to help give the people hope.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 10/19/08

A couple of weeks ago I participated in Mitch Joel’s Social Media Marketing Best Practice Meme and wrote about reflect. I thought it was time to gather all of the entries that I have found so far and share them will all of you. If I was more motivated I would work them all into an awesome essay, but I just don’t have it in me right now. Please, if you know of any that I have missed, let me know and I will add them to the list.

The articles are in no particular order other than how I located them in my online bookmarks.

• Playing Social Media Tag – David Bradley (Be Nice)
• Social Media Marketing Best Practices – Ryan Stephens (Respect)
• Discovery Marketing: One Step Ahead of Word of Mouth – Max Gladwell (Discovery)
• Social Media Best Practices – Andy Murdoch (Automate)
• Social Media Marketing Best Practice – Kristi (Be Unique)
• Social Media Marketing Tip: Pause – Ari Herzog (Pause)
• Inclusion: My Choice for Social Media Marketing Best Practice – Shel Holtz (Inclusion)
• What Are Some Social Media Marketing Best Practices – Chris Brogan (Listen)
• Best Practices In Social Media Marketing – Add Value – Reid Givens (Add Value)
• Best Practices – David Wescott (Build Relationships)
• What’s Your One Social Media Best Practice – Jacob Morgan (Give)
• Best Practices for Social Media Marketing – Kristie Wells (Be Human)
• Best Practices in Social Media With the Eyes – Liz Strauss (Watch What People Actually Do)
• Always Be Responding: The Best Practices In Social Media Marketing Writing Project – Rebecca Zwar (Always Be Responding)
• Best Practices in Social Media Marketing – Mike Fruchter (Consistency and Sharing)
• Best Practices In Social Media Marketing: Embrace Your Audience – Jason Falls (Embrace Your Audience)
• Social Media Best Practices – Erhan Erdogan (4 tips on Friendfeed)
• Be a Beacon: The First Principle of Social Media – Max Gladwell (Be a Beacon)
• Social Media Marketing Best Practices – Charlie Hoehn’s (Relevance)
• Social Media Best Practice: Be Authentic – Devin Reams (Be Authentic)
• Best Practices in Social Media: Lift up others – Drew McLellan (Lift Up Others)

I am sure there are many, many more that I have missed. So, as I mentioned at the beginning, please let me know and I will add them.

photo credit: parl

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Social Media Marketing Best Practice – Article Round-Up

One of the problems with WordPress archives listed by month in the sidebar is that the list becomes really long when you have been blogging for a long time. Siel at green LA girl has been blogging since July 2005 and had removed her archive list from the front page sidebar because it had become so unwieldy.

I investigated a variety of solutions and Siel decided to use the Clean Archives Reloaded plugin, which creates a collapsible list or archived entries on an archive page rather than listing them in the sidebar.

Take a second to look at how the plugin works on Siel’s site and then come back and follow the installation instructions.

To install and set this plugin up on your site do the following:

1. Download the plugin and extract the zip file. Make sure to keep the file structure intact.
2. Upload the extracted directory to the plugins folder in your WordPress installation.
3. Activate the plugin
4. You can create a new post or page for your archives. If you use a page, you can use your default template or, especially motivated, you can create a new template for archives.
5. On the post or page, add the following code.

[cleanarchivesreloaded]

The plugin also has code for a post count, which you add if you want but it isn’t necessary.

[cartotalposts]

Then add a link to your archives in the sidebar. The permalink is listed below the title on the post or page that you just created. The link can say Archives, give a date range, say history of this site, or whatever you want as long it is clear that it is the archives.

That’s all there is to it. If you didn’t take a look at green LA girl’s archives at the beginning of this article, here’s another link. They look great, provide more information than standard archives, and the collapsible part of this is really cool. Plus, it is super easy to set-up.

I’m considering adding this to my own site. Since I’ve only been blogging since May, it really isn’t an issue yet, but it won’t take long before the list becomes long and starts to annoy me, especially since I’m not that fond of chronological archives.

photo credit: dublincitypubliclibraries

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

WordPress – Collapsible Archives with the Clean Archives Reloaded Plugin

Users added are:

• 100KHouse
• 3rblogging
• gogreentube
• greatgreen
• greenmom
• greenrater
• greenyourdecor
• organicmaven
• planetrelations
• ppng
• railstotrails
• worldchanging

Please post in the comments if you know of anyone who should be added to the master list.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Green Twitter List Updated