White Sun of the Desert

Finally I have got around to revamping what must have been the most outdated blog in the world. I’d been meaning to for some time, but got caught up in cricket and trips to Yalta and stuff.

Firstly, a moan about blogging software, in particular Movable Type 3.2. I downloaded the free version of the software and uploaded it to my server, and after a few minor hiccups I managed to install it without too much bother. But when I tried to install the plugins, namely MT Blogroll and StyleCatcher, I was greeted with several error messages. When I went on the support forums I found several people with the same problem, and no help had arrived to them in a month or more. My requests for help were in vain, as nobody seemed to be able or willing to offer advice. Without the plugins, Movable Type loses most of its appeal and so I decided to give WordPress a whirl, particularly after reading an endorsement from Jackie Danicki who seems to create a new blog every month.

WordPress was much more user friendly, although obviously less refined. The only grumbles I have with it is that managing links is a pain, especially if you have to delete or edit multiple links or you want to display the link categories in anything other than alphabetical order (you have to cheat a bit to achieve the latter). And also I would like to be able to play around with the HTML a bit, but as most of it is generated automatically in a script somewhere this is pretty hard to do unless you know how to edit the scripts, which I don’t. For instance, on Jackie’s site she’s got a picture of herself and an About section. The theme that I chose doesn’t have an About section, so I had to use a makeshift one by adding it as a link category instead. I would like to include a picture just below the About section, but have no idea how to. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing from the point of view of attracting readers. But all that said, WordPress works where Movable Type let me down, so I’m happy enough.

As for the content of the blog itself, I’m going to be changing it slightly. I intend to post more about the former Soviet Union and more about Dubai and the Middle East. I might also post a little here and there about the oil and gas industry, given that knowledge of how it works seems scarce amongst the general population, if prevailing opinions are anything to go by. And I’ll probably abandon the general political stuff to those who are better at it than I, except with the occasional post in which I believe I can add some value or cover points not discussed elsewhere.

So new blog, new direction. If anyone runs into any technical problems I haven’t yet ironed out, please drop me a line. And by the way, I took the picture at the top of the page myself somewhere out in the desert near Dubai, so it is actually a white sun of the desert. And finally, no I haven’t seen Белое солнце пустыни, the film which lends this blog its name, but I intend to as soon as I get hold of a copy.