WPG2 and Social Connect plugins disabled after security review

I’ve disabled two WordPress plugins that are no longer being maintained after an extensive security review of the site.

Specifically, I’ve disabled the WPG2 plugin, which integrated Gallery2 and WordPress, and Social Connect, which allowed visitors to log in to the site using social media accounts.

Most site content will still display without any issues, but some content related to these two plugins may be unavailable or non-functional.

A request from a parent as we approach Christmas

Before I make my request, I’d like to make it abundantly clear that I consider myself immensely blessed. I thank God for my wife, my children, my home, and our health. I am also grateful that my children are growing up near their grandparents and extended family.

I also want to share regarding our circumstances to set the context for my request: My wife and I both work outside the home full-time, but do our best to make time to spend with our children. We have both chosen to prioritize our family over our careers. We have never regretted that decision. We are blessed with steady employment and we are grateful to be able to provide for our family.

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Heartbreak – Five years on

Five years ago, my wife and I lost our second child to miscarriage. Seventeen days later, I wrote a post entitled “Heartbreak.” I haven’t written anything longer than a Facebook status update or reply on the subject in the years since, but that should not be misconstrued as willfully ignoring the loss or trying to gloss over it. The pain today is more muted than immediately following the loss, but, as I suspected then, one never truly “gets over” such a significant loss.

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Sporadic packet loss for last month with Mediacom Internet service

I had planned to post the following on the Mediacom Support forums, but was unable to register an account after triple-checking my e-mail address and requesting a new verification e-mail 5 times over the course of an hour. So I’m posting this here for public view:

I signed up for Mediacom service around 6 months ago. Once the setup was complete, service was flawless until early December.

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Puyo Puyo Tetris released in Japan, import sales open

Will the ultimate puzzle game mash-up see a release outside Japan? Possible, but unlikely. The last Puyo game to get a US release was Puyo Pop Fever for the DS in 2005.

You can click here to watch the trailer for Puyo Puyo Tetris.

If you'd rather not wait (likely in complete futility) for PPT to get released outside Japan, consider importing the game instead:

Remember that the Wii U and 3DS are region-locked but the Vita and PS3 are not. If you choose to purchase the Wii U or 3DS versions, you'll need Japanese hardware to play your import.

Why King is a terrible, terrible company

I originally posted the following elsewhere:

So the company that cloned Bejeweled 3, slapped a coat of Candy Land on top, and earns 6 figures a day through what some (including myself) would call player exploitation has trademarked the word "candy" and are already vigorously defending said trademark. Yes, you read that correctly. King, the makers of Candy Crush Saga, are well on their way to becoming more hated than Zynga (which is quite the task, I assure you).

For those that don't follow the games industry (which, I would guess, is most of you), I ask that you spend a few minutes, Google "candy crush saga trademark" and read up on this mess. And if you're looking for games to replace Candy Crush Saga, please let me know and I'd be happy to suggest titles NOT developed by a company that is a cancer on the games industry.

King is a horrible, horrible company that found success in cloning games and launching off the work of others and is now abusing the horribly broken US trademark system to ensure others don't launch off their success. (But in reality, they're mostly bullying legitimate developers, like Stoic Studio, developers of The Banner Saga.)

It's like someone making a clone of Pac-Man called Eat Those Candy Dots, trademarking the word "candy," and then seeking to block a developer from naming their game I Love Candy (disregarding the fact that the gameplay centers around a dinosaur chasing small dogs through a candy factory).

Trademark bullying is terrible under any circumstances, but trademark bullying by a completely unoriginal clone factory like King would be comic if it weren't so sad, pathetic, and enraging.

Candy Crush Saga is a clone of Bejeweled 3, Bubble Witch Saga is a clone of Puzzle Bobble, Papa Pear Saga is a clone of Peggle, Farm Heroes Saga is another Bejeweled clone, Pet Rescue Saga is a clone of SameGame.

I'm not opposed to clones that iterate on game design, even if said iterations are minor, but cloning a game and THEN tacking on a free-to-play pay model (which is, more often than not, obnoxious at best and exploitative at worst) is rotten enough. Sending lawyers to then harass legitimate studios is infuriating.

Related links:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/20/candy-crush-devs-candy-trademark-approved-for-publication/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2014/01/23/candy-crush-saga-tries-to-crush-the-banner-saga-in-bizarre-trademark-saga/

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/21579/20140121/candy-crush-saga-maker-trademarks-king-taken.htm

http://www.businessinsider.com/king-on-pac-avoid-and-scamperghost-2014-1

And you can find a hundred more related articles with enough spare time and Google.