For those of you who have been using the news feed that comes off the upper right hand side of this blog, I’ve made a few improvements to it that you might want to use.  Grab the feed from Feedburner, here.

What’s better?  Well, all the news articles now link directly to the original source rather than having to go through the intermediary (and pointless) news blog.  Secondly, I’ve added tags and related posts for your edification, just like I have on the home page now.  Third, there is a “Discuss this @DFE” link that points to the Forums.

Hope you guys enjoy these new additions.  I’m enjoying keeping this news list going and keeping you informed.  And for those of you who are not currently subscribers, why not try it out?

I just wanted to point out that there is a new feature here at DFE that some of you may want to avail yourselves of. I’ve created a Google custom search engine that pulls exclusively from Rochester news sources including Channels 8, 10, 13 and R-News, the Democrat and Chronicle, City Newspaper, Rochester Business Journal.   Look for it in the sidebar, below the news updates. If you know of other news sources I aught to be including in this list, leave a comment here or contact me with whatever websites you think of and I’ll add them to the list.

I’m hoping that, at some point, Google will let us unlock the power of the News Search where we can order by date. There may yet be a way to do that with what I’ve got, I’m going to keep checking.

I’ve been struggling to find the right set of tools to display videos on this website for a while now.  Viper’s Video Quick Tags does a great job of inserting videos into posts, but I’ve also wanted to keep a video gallery page going for those videos that I don’t necessarily want to post articles on, but which might be of interest to you readers out there.   I’ve worked with a few solutions, and none have been entirely satisfying for me.

But I have come up with something much better, which I found on Veracifier.com, called Vod:Pod.  The beauty of Vod:Pod is that it simply scrapes Flash video off almost any site that supports it, so it’s not dependent on an API by YouTube or MySpace and therefore limited to one service or another.  I can take vids off any page that has Flash videos, including other blogs.  Secondly, I can use Vod:Pod to create my new video gallery, which I think looks kinda nifty, especially since it uses AJAX to load each Flash movie without page refreshes.  Sweet, eh?

My applogies to those of you who wanted to leave comments in the last few weeks and have been unable to do so.  I’ve been struggling with a template problem that concerned the commenting form and decided it was best to leave the comments off until it was corrected.  That will teach me to trust someone else’s template code!

But, the crisis appears to have been averted.  Thanks most kindly to Paige for diligently reporting errors and problems as he’s seen them.  Without his help I would doubtless never have seen the problem, since it only affected users that weren’t logged in and I am of course always logged into my site!  Thanks, dude!

Maybe we’re all just in lame moods today, but I note that in my ten-article NY BlogWire, I see my post from 7:45am this morning and a post from 11:55am from Progressive Rockland.  It is now 2:28pm.  My gods, but we’re a lame bunch this morning!

I’m very pleased to announce that we have yet another new blogger in our midst here at DFE, Carla Palumbo.  Mrs. Palumbo was the Democratic Minority Leader in the Legislature until this past election cycle, when she successfully campaigned for the City Council North East position.

I’ve been talking to Carla about all things Legislature for a while now, and she agreed to blog here on DragonFlyEye.Net, so now we’ve finally got her setup.  Her first piece points out that, while a recent D&C article anoints Wayne Zyra as the new President of the Lej, the actual vote has not happened yet.  The D&C seems awfully invested in making decisions among the Republican majority seem like decrees from Caesar.

Even more interesting is her discussion of the Monroe County budget.  I don’t want to startle anyone, but the F.A.I.R. plan may not be all it’s cracked up to be.  Carla has a number of questions about the supposed tax breaks for county residents, but don’t miss the discussion of some interesting and here-to-fore unexplained earmarks left in the budget.  I thought we had a balanced budget 20 million dollar deficit?

So, there’s some good reading to be had over there!  Please check out her writing and comment if you can!  Ask questions, maybe she’ll write more posts!!

In other news

I am in discussions with another blogger who may be joining the team.  If he does, he’ll be much more intimately involved with the site, contributing to this, the Editor’s Blog, doing some site administration and such.  I don’t want to say too much too soon, but he’s a smart guy with a lot of potential.  Stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Don’t count on too much posting on this website, but I had to point out some great posting by another author featured here. John Sacheli gives us lots to think about, and giggle over, this holiday season:

» Chocolate Cannolis and the Trail of Tears - odd combo at best. » Pissin\’ in the Wind

Oh, and sorry PETA, I eat meat. It’s all about the Turkey for me. (I have two eyes in the front of my head, which makes me a predator. If my eyes were all sideways like a Gazel or something, then I’d eat grass. You’re entitled to your beliefs and choices and all that, just don’t try and make me feel guilty for being on top of the food chain. )

OK, yes I did just paraphrase Hank Williams Jr.  I’m a hick, it’s what I was raised on, deal with it. . .

I’ve been a bit silent on the blog today and this weekend.  That’s partially because coding has gotten in the way of posting (both at my job and on the website) and partially because I’ve been inviting new members to come blog on my site, and they’ve been accepting.  I’m very proud to introduce the my new bloggers:

John Sacheli ~ John is a local folk musician and songwriter who plays in The Spirit of Ontario (the band, not the boat).  He wrote a few pieces for the old platform, but now he’s joined the new digs, as well!  His new blog’s name is great: Pissin’ in the Wind.  I think we all know what that feels like. . .

Rosemary Rivera ~ Rosemary is a local activist who does a lot of work with Metro Justice (with organizer Jon Greenbaum, another friend of and blogger on DFE) and Citizen Action.  In particular, education concerns are her bag, so it’ll be interesting having her input on all things Tax Intercept, among others.  Check her out at The Key to Success!

Monica Leubner ~ Monica and I have become acquainted through the Barack Obama website and companion activism.  She’s a local political rabble rouser who has assured me she is “quite opinionated.”  Definitely check out her blog, Hub Bub.

And there are even more names to come in the near future!  Definitely check out the Latest from the Network section of the home page to find out what’s going on, or better yet, subscribe to the site-wide DragonFlyEye.Net feed!  The feed format is, sadly, a bit wonky, but will be improved soon.

Who’s ready to pass out candy, then drink till they pass out?

I am, I am!

Halloween time is upon us, and here at DFE, there have been a few spooky changes to fit the spooky season.  can you spot them?  Hmmm? I’ll be passing out candy at the house tonight, joining in the celebration with all the kiddos, which on Mt. Vernon Avenue is something akin to a waist-high Marti Gras.  In fact, we’re really just one well-placed sugar high away from a Lord of the Flies kind of thing. . .

But, it’s really cool seeing all the kids dressed up and ready to party.  Its even nicer to live in an area safe enough to actually invite a crowd for All Hallow’s Eve.  Sure, we’ll get our allotment of smashed pumpkins and the like, but apart from that, the holiday passes without incident.

So, I’m hoping all of you out there have a safe and happy Halloween!

Hey, everybody!

I’m sure most of you who read this know my wife is a teacher at Gates-Chili High School.  Well, she has a kid who is new in town and very depressed. He’s a good, all-American goth kid, the kind I really respect, personally. Anyway, his parents don’t have very much money to work with, and he in the meanwhile dearly wants to learn to play guitar.

Does anyone have an old beater guitar and a practice amp they might consider donating to the cause? We’re just trying to help a confused kid make the best of his situation. Contact me if you can help out.

Thanks!