WP SimpleWeather Plugin

Today I released my first WordPress Plugin to the WordPress Plugin Repository. It can be found here. I have also created a page here on my website explaining the basics of the WP SimpleWeather Plugin.

As this is my blog, let me go a bit more in depth here. As I briefly mentioned above, this is the first WordPress Plugin I have created. I suppose that could lead to a variety of questions concerning it, so let me go ahead and hold a brief question and answer session with myself to explain.

Q: This is your first WordPress plugin? Does that mean it’s going to suck?

A: Yes, this is my first WordPress plugin. I mean, I’ve used plenty before, but this is the first one I have made. I suppose it is quite possible that it will indeed suck. I mean, I don’t think it does, but it is possible that users of the plugin will find any number of issues that I have not thought of. I am new to the game here, so be gentle. I will do my best to fix any issues as soon as possible.

Q: Why did you decide to create a WordPress plugin in the first place? Why a weather plugin? There are a ton of those!

A: Well, I have been using WordPress for quite some time in the creation of my websites. It is the most popular blogging platform in the world today. This website itself is made using WordPress. During the creation of another website (which I am still working on), I needed the use of a Weather Plugin. Unfortunately, all the WordPress plugins I came across dealing with weather were, well, not quite what I wanted. So, I went searching around and eventually came across the jQuery simpleWeather plugin. It was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Except that it was not yet a WordPress plugin. I could use it easily as a jQuery plugin, but then my clients would not be able to easily update it via the WordPress back-end. So, I decided to convert it into a WordPress plugin.

Q: Someone else made it? And you’re taking credit? Isn’t that wrong?

A: Yes and no. The jQuery simpleWeather plugin was created by James Fleeting using the Yahoo! Weather API. There are a variety of available plugins which use the same. I really liked his, and merely converted the publicly available code into a WordPress plugin. If Mr. Fleeting would prefer that I take the plugin down, I will do so at his request. I am fully crediting his work (as you can see here), and do not wish in any way to be stealing his thunder. I sincerely hope that creating this plugin will bring both he and I more web design business in our respective locales.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask away in the comments section. I hope someone enjoys the plugin. If not, at least I’ve found it useful for myself.

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Hocking Hills = Awesome

I am from Findlay, Ohio. It’s really flat here. Super flat. The only hills in town are man made. So, naturally, when I think of Ohio, I don’t think of sweet places to hike. It turns out the other side of the state is completely different.

This weekend some friends and I went down to the Hocking Hills region of Ohio (see their website)… just a bit southeast of Columbus. We went camping at a place called Lake Hope. Honestly, the campground was decent, but nothing special. The real attraction is the hiking trails located throughout the region. There are numerous trails and the whole area is beautiful. I could try to explain it, but I’ll just post a few pictures instead.

Conkle’s Hollow

On Saturday we hiked at a place called Conkle’s Hollow. We went around on the 2 mile Rim Trail. It had some stunning cliff views. While we were hiking the trail, it just started pouring down rain outside, and I still had a grand time.

Then on Sunday we hiked something along the lines of 8-10 miles covering three other areas of the Hocking Hills Region by following the Buckeye Trail between them. It was thoroughly fantastic, and I would recommend everyone check it out. I am very glad we took the Buckeye Trail between these three areas rather than driving to each one separately. It was quiet and relatively empty out along the trail, and in many areas it was just as beautiful as the far more touristy and populated areas we hiked along at:

Ash Cave

Ash Cave was our first stop, just off of State Route 56. It seemed like the smallest of all the areas we went to, although we only took the shorter of the two trails there. If you have young children, this seemed like the best of the areas we went to to bring them to. The cave was enormous and pretty stunning, and there is a safe trail leading up to a large sandy area beneath the cave that would be great for kids to play around at and enjoy safely.

Cedar Falls

The next stop along our trek was Cedar Falls. Oddly enough, it turns out there aren’t even any cedar trees around the falls. The hemlock trees were misidentified as cedars back in the day, but the name stuck.

Old Man’s Cave

I think the hike between Cedar Falls and Old Man’s Cave was the best part of the trip. It was beautiful and almost entirely devoid of people. But Old Man’s Cave seemed like the most popular of the areas in Hocking Hills, and for good reason. The whole place is pretty stunning. Unfortunately, I got there pretty late, and most of my pictures didn’t turn out too well. I’ll just have to go back another time.

There are also a few other places we didn’t make it to… I’ll just have to go back. I’m thinking I’ll be back sometime in the fall, I can only imagine it is even more amazing with colorful fall foliage.

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Wyclef Jean… President of Haiti?

According to multiple news sources, Wyclef Jean, hip-hop artist and former member of The Fugees, is planning to run for President of Haiti. Is this a case of a celebrity making a mockery of the democratic process to promote his new album? Or is Mr. Jean truly interested in helping Haiti?

It is difficult to tell at this point. Democracy, in the United States and in the rest of the world, has often become a celebrity contest, much like those we can probably all recall from grade school. But Haiti is a different place. According to Wikipedia, Haiti:

“… is an impoverished country, one of the world’s poorest and least developed. Comparative social and economic indicators show Haiti falling behind other low-income developing countries (particularly in the hemisphere) since the 1980s. Haiti now ranks 149th of 182 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (2006). About 80% of the population were estimated to be living in poverty in 2003. Most Haitians live on $2 or less per day. Haiti has 50% illiteracy, and over 80% of college graduates from Haiti have emigrated, mostly to the United States… Poverty has forced at least 225,000 Haitian children to work as restavecs (unpaid household servants); the United Nations considers this to be a modern-day form of slavery.”

And since the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in January of this year, things have only gotten worse.

Could a celebrity be exactly the type of President that Haiti needs? It certainly wouldn’t hurt to put Haiti back in the minds of the world. Simply by running for president there, Mr. Jean’s celebrity may help to bring Haiti’s problems back into the world news, bringing aid and volunteers to the impoverished nation. Maybe that’s his goal. But what if he not only runs… but wins? Would Wyclef Jean make a good president?

Based on Haiti’s past history with presidents, it would be difficult for him to do any worse than them. Jean-Bertrand Aristide became Haiti’s first democratically elected president in February 1991, but was removed from power before completing even the first year of his 5 year term. Raoul Cédras, a military leader, took power and was in charge of the government until October of 1994, when he was basically exiled by the United States. Aristide returned to power and completed his 5 year term (although he hadn’t been in charge for three of those years). In 1996, René Préval became the second democratically elected President of Haiti and in 2001, he also became the second President of Haiti to leave office at the expiration of an uninterrupted term of office, the first since 1874! And then in 2001, Aristide was again elected president, only to be deposed again in 2004. In 2006, Préval returned to office and has served since.

Préval is barred from re-election by the constitution. It seems, based on Préval actually completing two terms of office, that he has been a good president by Haiti’s standards, but he failed dramatically in his ability to lead the government response to this years earthquake.

Haiti is a country rife with problems. I believe Mr. Jean’s soon-to-be-announced campaign for president will be good for the country. However, I don’t believe his election would be. According to multiple reports, he hasn’t even been able to run his charity, The Yéle Haiti Foundation, without accusations of financial irregularities that he himself has admitted to. It seems to me that his heart is in the right place, but he simply isn’t prepared to run a country. But then… is anyone else in Haiti qualified for the job either?

Links:

• Wyclef Jean’s Blog
• Yele Haiti
• Wyclef Jean to run for president of Haiti? Buzz growing (The Miami Herald – 08/03/2010)
• Haiti: Wyclef Jean Said to Agree to Presidential Run (NYTimes – 08/04/2010)
• Haiti (Wikipedia)

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