Got a couple of interesting bits for you today, starting with some really great news from the Hamster Project, a time tracking application. My friend Tom wrote about his recent work decoupling the communication layer from the client and the back-end, which will now be handled by dbus. What that really means is that it will be easier to script against hamster and tap into the data that it captures. Here’s a simple code sample from Tom’s page:

You’re all probably tired of hearing me talking about my script to split the XML-like file that WordPress generates when you use the Export feature. Tonight I have finally added the final touches to it and can now share it here with you. If you don’t remember, I wrote it because my good friend Evandro from QuartoEstudio.com is always getting asked by some of his clients to migrate an existing web blog to a new host/domain and hands him a tarball containing the exported content of a WordPress blog in XML format.

[caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“160” caption=“Pumpkin Black Bean Soup by neon.mamacita”][/caption] Last night I attended two short presentation by Leonard Richardson, author of the O’Reilly book RESTful Web Services and developer on Launchpad.net. Unfortunately it took me a while to find a parking spot near UNC’s Chapman Hall, so I missed 90% of the first one, titled “A Spotter’s Guide to RESTful Web Services”. Based on the number of questions that were asked at the end, it seemed to me that this is an area where there are way too many possible ways people can get lost attempting to implement it…

From the “Read a Book to a Child" department, I’d like to recommend two amazing books that will be a sure hit for any kid, even the one inside you! [caption id=“attachment_969” align=“alignleft” width=“216” caption=“Watch me throw the ball by Mo Willems”][/caption] “Watch Me Throw the Ball" An Elephant & Piggie Book by Mo Willems is a wonderful book! I simply love the way Mo Willems writes the dialogs between Gerald, the always cautious and pessimistic elephant and Piggie, an optimistic, lovable pig.

[caption id=“attachment_979” align=“alignleft” width=“240” caption=“Trader Joe’s”][/caption] I first got hooked on drinking coffee back in the Spring of 1994 while attending a Microbiology class at Pace University. Our class started way too early for me and our professor (can’t remember her name right now) was this tiny old lady who barely raised her voice over the decibel level that dogs can hear. The class and subject were very interesting and by the end of the semester I felt very confident about my laboratory skills (and developed a phobia about anything that was not coated with some type of anti bacterial product).

[caption id=“attachment_963” align=“alignleft” width=“279” caption=“Week in Review”][/caption] Here’s what happened this week: Quotes to brighten your day Kind of ironic how my post titled “Stop whining and improve your lifeâ€? attracted so much negativity in the comments area. From the “Useful Django Tipâ€? Department: Reset The Admin Password This comes straight from the Useful Django Tip department: How do you reset the admin password for a Django project when you’ve forgotten it?

[caption id=“attachment_950” align=“alignleft” width=“243” caption=“Django 1.1 Testing and Debugging”][/caption] What a great day to kick of the day! Just received my complimentary copy of the book “Django 1.1 Testing and Debugging" from Packt Publishing! From the book’s overview page: Develop Django applications quickly with fewer bugs through effective use of automated testing and debugging tools. Ensure your code is accurate and stable throughout development and production by using Django’s test framework.