The Wi Ski map is back! However, it is not back 100% and I have a basic map up with a smattering of ski resorts placed on the map. However, this is a huge improvement as it will be much easier for me to add and remove ski resorts to the map.
As time goes by I will be adding more pins to the map.
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Since the map is a fairly popular item here at The Wisconsin Skier I wanted to post you on the progress I am making on it.
I have created the database for the application and I just completed compiling the data I need for the first release which will be basic resort location information. So in the next day or so I will upload that data to my database and start working on the process to load up the data I need to put pins on a map! Once that is done, I have to put the pins on the map and version one will be deemed complete and I will deploy it!
The map will includes ski resorts in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and of course Wisconsin!
I plan to add resort specific data to the application and add layers to the map so if you are at a ski resort you can, for instance, select the “restaurant” layer and any restaurants I have put on the map will appear, but that functionality is going to be included in a future release.
Thanks for your patience!
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Many of you may have noticed The Wisconsin Skier was off line, in fact it was suspended by its web hosting company. Trust me, The Wisconsin Skier is NOT a deadbeat.
The problem was due to database performance. You see, The Wisconsin Skier resides on a single server with other websites and due to a certain plugin it uses, The Wisconsin Skier was using excessive amounts of database processing time. Well, I found a plugin to profile its database usage and that lead me to getting rid of a plugin that used lots of database processing. In any event, that plugin was redundant and it is now gone. I hope The Wisconsin Skier is returned to good-neighbor status!
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I rarely and explicitly copyright any of my works here. Nor do I put up notices of other copyrights here.
Most of the work here is owned by myself through Snowflake MSM LLC but I do borrow works from others from time to time. Mostly in the form of YouTube videos and there are some images I have used, but most of these are images of images that are well within the public domain. For example, the famous painting of Sir Isaac Newton 
I can not recall where I got the image from (other than to say Google Images) but the image is a straight up copy of the original and is not embellished or processed at all, so I think it quite fair to pull the copy.
However, other images I am not so lackadaisical about. I was at one time hunting for an image of the knee joint, but could not find a decent one that came with the necessary license, so I abandoned the post I was contemplating. One image I have actually purchased is the image used for my unordered lists bullets. I purchased that image from IStock.com (they google easily look them up on your own) this way the person who crafted that image gets some compensation for their hard work.
Likewise here. Given how easy it is to copy another’s work on the Internet I am not going to spend a lot of time watermarking and otherwise attempting to block your ability to copy the works here. Most every technique I have seen used to attempt to prevent people from copying works on the Internet I have been able to overcome (however, that material is NOT republished and is for personal use only). One or two of those methods required some effort, but most very little effort was involved.
So, if you want to copy material from this site, all I ask for is to please give me credit and a link back (and please do not hotlink the work, if I notice the hotlink I will put something to embarrass you). If you want an image in greater resolution than I provide on this site please contact myself (a form will go up sometime in the future) and we can talk.
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You are starting to see more activity at this site. That is a good thing too. Right now, the activity is mostly on the new camera the wife and I purchased. I am reviewing the camera and letting you know what I like and dislike about the camera.
However, you may have also noted fiction here with the second installment of Turnquest publishing yesterday. I may not be Ernest Hemingway but I am not charging you for it either and it is something I like to do.
I have written a bit about our summer activities and am working to incorporate more visual elements into my articles here mainly original photography. It is not easy or quick to do but I do it for you! One thing I ask of you, if you like an article, a photograph, or story, please share it with your friends any way you can. Mentions on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and others are always appreciated but comments, backlinks, and telling your friends and neighbors always helps.
Now that I have my photo library management software running well, more and more photos should start appearing and I am eager to start building up a more professional and varied library of photographs.
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I have to take these words to apologize to you. I am sorry, I was working on the lupine post last Tuesday (IIRC) and in the middle of that work the site started to exhibit 500 Internal Server errors. I did a few things but to no avail, could not read logs, could not do anything.
The next morning and I looked, this site was still down and I viewed a number of other sites I run and those too were crashing with the same symptom. The old web host was not fixing things and are notoriously uncommunicative so I am taking my business elsewhere.
This is the first site to move and the rest are following. No doubt, there will be problems with a few things here and there, but we will find them out and fix them as time goes by.
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Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans!
I have finally decided to rollout the new look and feel to The Wisconsin Skier. I created the theme based on work for a client of mine and on Matthew James Taylor’s Holy Grail layout. I took that layout structure, added the PHP I needed, changed the default styling, and added new CSS as needed to make the layout suit my needs. Matthew James Taylor has a number of different layotus, they are all basic structures you need to add your own doo-dads to make it work with your CMS, but doing that is both fun and a great learning experience.
Is not from Wisconsin, but is a photo I took when we visited Monarch Ski and Snowboard Area in Salida Colorado. One of the two images currently in the header comes from Nordic Moutain nearby my residence here in Wisconsin. It is the on the snow picture of the corduroy. I might change up that background on a regular basis.
The biggest change is to replace the page category menu in the header with the article category menu. The articles are the important content so I bring them to the fore. The page category menu will return but I need to figure out how to best fit it in. Also, a lot of sidebar content is gone, some may come back, some may get moved to a page. Right now, I need to do some additional theme styling as currently siebar content below the advertisements & the poll gets lost in the trees, that is right, you can’t see the widgets for the trees!
I have reworked the article categories and will endeavor to keep them as static as possible, adding only at the bottom of a category hierarchy and keeping each level to no more than five or six categories wide. Pages will go into a similar menu, but that menu will be in a sidebar and vertical, pages I hope to keep both narrow and shallow (article categories is going to be narrow and deep).
One major change yet to come involves a new logo, alas, inspiration has been lacking on the logo and header. I also definitely want to add search functionality to the header, make it as easy as possible. The map is still not ready for prime-time, I hope to have that up by start of 2011-2012 ski season.
I added categories in a way that gives me flexibility to write about non-skiing content too.
I Hope
The changes are visually pleasing and make it easier for you to find content. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think! Thank You!
Matt Taylor prefers the following link when getting credit, so I add this:
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Sorry, The Wisconisn Skier was experiencing technical difficulties.
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It was the first half of the 1980s and classes were done for the day, I was a member of the cross-country team and practice for the day had not yet started and we were chatting up with some classmates who were getting ready for football practice.
One fellow was talking about how hard geometry class was. I was in the class at the time and I exclaimed it was easy if you studied and did the homework. The fellow who was griping retorted back Of course it is easy if you study obviously, the guy did not want to put any effort into it.
The constant chant of advice Google gives on SEO is similar. Create good content and good user experience and your SEO follows!
(more…)
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You will know it is I, The Wisconsin Skier:
The Mark of the Wisconsin Skier
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