", 38 | statuses.Select(x => string.Format("{0}: {1}", x.UpdatedAt, x.State))); 39 | } 40 | catch (NotFoundException) 41 | { 42 | return HttpStatusCode.NotFound; 43 | } 44 | }; 45 | 46 | Get["/{user}/{repo}/{sha}/{status}", true] = async (parms, ct) => 47 | { 48 | var accessToken = Session["accessToken"] as string; 49 | if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(accessToken)) 50 | return RedirectToOAuth(); 51 | client.Credentials = new Credentials(accessToken); 52 | 53 | CommitState newState = Enum.Parse(typeof(CommitState), parms.status, true); 54 | try 55 | { 56 | await client.Repository.CommitStatus.Create( 57 | parms.user, parms.repo, parms.sha, new NewCommitStatus 58 | { 59 | State = newState, 60 | TargetUrl = new Uri(Request.Url.SiteBase), 61 | Context = "arbitrary", 62 | }); 63 | } 64 | catch (NotFoundException) 65 | { 66 | return HttpStatusCode.NotFound; 67 | } 68 | return String.Format( 69 | @"Done! Go to this API endpiont " + 70 | @"or the local view", 71 | parms.user, parms.repo, parms.sha); 72 | }; 73 | 74 | Get["/authorize", true] = async (parms, ct) => 75 | { 76 | var csrf = Session["CSRF:State"] as string; 77 | Session.Delete("CSRF:State"); 78 | if (csrf != Request.Query["state"]) 79 | { 80 | return HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized; 81 | } 82 | 83 | var successUrl = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["baseUrl"] + "/authorize/success"; 84 | var token = await client.Oauth.CreateAccessToken( 85 | new OauthTokenRequest(clientId, clientSecret, Request.Query["code"].ToString()) 86 | { 87 | RedirectUri = new Uri(successUrl) 88 | }); 89 | Session["accessToken"] = token.AccessToken; 90 | return Response.AsRedirect(successUrl); 91 | }; 92 | 93 | Get["/authorize/success"] = _ => 94 | { 95 | var origUrl = Session["OrigUrl"].ToString(); 96 | Session.Delete("OrigUrl"); 97 | return Response.AsRedirect(origUrl); 98 | }; 99 | } 100 | 101 | private Response RedirectToOAuth() 102 | { 103 | var csrf = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); 104 | Session["CSRF:State"] = csrf; 105 | Session["OrigUrl"] = this.Request.Path; 106 | 107 | var request = new OauthLoginRequest(clientId) 108 | { 109 | Scopes = { "repo:status" }, 110 | State = csrf 111 | }; 112 | var oauthLoginUrl = client.Oauth.GetGitHubLoginUrl(request); 113 | return Response.AsRedirect(oauthLoginUrl.ToString()); 114 | } 115 | } 116 | } 117 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /chapter-5-dotnet-and-the-commit-status-api/NancyApplication1/NancyApplication1.csproj: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 2 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
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1 | ---
2 | layout: default
3 | ---
4 |
5 |
18 |
21 | ByTravelers.com
19 | Alternative travel information 20 |
23 |
27 |
24 | {{ content }}
25 |
26 | {{ page.title }}
6 | 7 |
8 |
9 | {{ content }}
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2000-05-23-third-day-in-salvador.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Third day in Salvador
3 | creation_date: '2000-05-23'
4 | image: photo.gif
5 | author: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
10 |
11 | I'm now entering the my third day in Salvador. There is, so far, much
12 | to like. The people are beautiful and they seem to know it, which
13 | makes them doubly so. The view from the beach is fantastic. The city
14 | itself, from what I've seen in two days, is full of deep history
15 | beneath the cobblestones. Before I left Portland I was having second
16 | thoughts about coming here but I know I have made the right decision
17 | now.
18 |
19 | So far I've only really come in contact with people who speak English
20 | well. Aside from my roommate who speak English not at all, that is.
21 | The first person I met was Jussara, the daughter of the woman who is
22 | renting me the room. Jussara is medium height with a short bob for
23 | hair and the typical Brasilian countenance. She is almost too
24 | friendly for me to bear sometimes. Coming from America you grow
25 | suspicious of people who are overly friendly and I've had to catch
26 | myself thinking that there must be a reason that she is so nice to me,
27 | when in fact it is most likely because that is the way she is.
28 | Tonight we were going to head out to go Salsa dancing but because
29 | there is no phone in my apartment there was no way for her to contact
30 | me and I, her, so I assume they went off without me.
31 |
32 | I also met Jandaira, the mother of Jussara. Full of smiles every time
33 | she sees me, but there is little communication between us because of
34 | the language barrier.
35 |
36 | Today I finally met the Brittos, the family that helped me find
37 | Jandaira and Jussara. Rose Britto is the aunt of Louie, a friend of
38 | mine from Portland. She is very kind. I also met her husband today.
39 | He is retired and for now I gues that means he can nap when he wants
40 | to. I also met their daughter Ryan. Ryan and I spent a good part of
41 | the afternoon together. I think Ryan likes the company of someone
42 | like me because she can speak English. She took me to lunch at a
43 | 'Comida a Quilo' joint, of course, called Big Beef. I don't like the
44 | idea of paying for the food I eat by weight since I am not paid by how
45 | heavy I am, but the food was pretty decent.
46 |
47 | After that we went to the Mercado Modelo. This apparently was the
48 | site of a slave trading business. They now sell arts and crafts from
49 | local merchants; lots of talismans and sculpture, busts, almost all in
50 | bright colors to contrast the dominant theme there which was dark
51 | black women in pure white dresses. The building where the Mercado
52 | sits in two stories with a basement. The basement is covered with
53 | water except for concrete slabs placed to act as a walkway. The water
54 | is only a few feet or so deep but is extremely murky; one child behind
55 | us grasping his father's hand tightly worried aloud that there might
56 | be 'tuberão' (sharks). There were definitely sharks on the first and
57 | second floors, kid.
58 |
59 | Afterwards we stopped outside in the back to see the Capoeira
60 | fighters. Capoeira is a different kind of martial art than I have
61 | seen before. Lots of high kicks and spins, but landing a blow was
62 | something that only the lower students did mistakenly. I like the
63 | informal nature of Capoeira; it seems like there is a rhythm you find
64 | with experience but not necessarily something you would get from a
65 | teacher.
66 |
67 | Next we followed the elevator up to Pelourinho, the haunting grounds
68 | of many of the characters from Jorge Amado's novels. All the streets
69 | were pure cobblestone and treacherous. We sat in a cafe outdoors and
70 | sipped limão and coca leite(?) from two straws. A pregnant woman gave
71 | me a cloth bracelet upon which tying around my wrist I was told to
72 | make three wishes. I wished for happiness in my love life in Bahia,
73 | happiness when I start my job and happiness to my family.
74 |
75 | As I write this my body itches. This bed has bed bugs and there are
76 | mosquitos about. I am not sure if it is better that ther are silent
77 | but not one of them made even the slightest buzz the first two nights
78 | I slept here. But if this is roughing it then I really can't
79 | complain.
80 |
81 | I never finished my introductions. The two men I live with are São
82 | Paulo, like the city I think, and Luis. Both are extremely friendly
83 | and talkative, about what I have no idea, but it is nice to hear them
84 | speak to a complete stranger like me without hesitation. I cooked up
85 | some leftovers for dinner tonight and Luis offered me his hot sauce
86 | (pimenta) and some flour type of stuff that I've seen before but don't
87 | know the name of. Then we talked for an hour or so and he gave me a
88 | pen from his company. After that he brought out his television and he
89 | tuned it to the news for me. None of what I am writing here makes any
90 | difference in the grand order of things but I am not sure that is the
91 | point. I am profoundly astonished, when I think about it and see it
92 | in cold black ink here on this paper, at the level of generosity and
93 | kindness shown to me since I have arrived in Salvador. Maybe that is
94 | why, without exception, everyone I have asked so far, loves living in
95 | here in Salvador. I plan to keep asking but I think I know the
96 | answer why.
97 |
98 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-01-12-angrezis-in-bharat.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ---
2 | title: Angrezis in Bharat
3 | creation_date: '2001-01-12'
4 | image: camera.gif
5 | author: MD
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: MD
10 |
11 | Translation - "Foreigners in India"
12 |
13 | Well since we last wrote we were heading for India.
14 |
15 | On our way there we stopped in at Chitwan Nat. Park
16 | (Nepal Border) to experience elephant riding while
17 | looking for various species of animal including the
18 | one horned rhino and the tiger in the local jungle. We
19 | were lucky to spot the one horned rhino but no luck on
20 | the tiger front. We also had fun bathing the elephant.
21 | We joined it in the river sitting on its back and
22 | getting soaked in the process by either it spraying us
23 | with its trunk or just dunking us. A great experience.
24 |
25 | Varanasi was our next stop where we enjoyed a dawn
26 | boat ride on the Ganges veiwing the locals daily
27 | ritual of bathing, washing and even dying in the
28 | Ganges. With respect to the latter, before the bodies
29 | are cremated next to the Ganges, they are doused into
30 | the Ganges to purify their soul for afterlife.
31 | Varanasi or Benares as it is known to the locals has
32 | to be seen to be believed for the out and out
33 | polution, be it from carbon monoxide to cowshit!! Cows
34 | are allowed to roam free in Hindu countries which
35 | causes chaos at times with the traffic. I also got to
36 | play cricket with the locals in the narrow alleys of
37 | the old town but had to avoid the brown cowpatts in
38 | the process! It was quite coincidental that the NZ
39 | cricket team was playing India at the same time.
40 |
41 | We then headed to Bandhavgarh Nat Park where we struck
42 | lucky seeing the Bengal tiger in the wild on a number
43 | of occasions. It was pretty awesome to see it in the
44 | flesh so close in its natural environment. Definitely
45 | a highlight in India so far. For the record this park
46 | has the highest density of tigers for any national
47 | park in India, so the odds of getting to see a tiger
48 | are better than average.
49 |
50 | Khajuraho was where Victoria and I got to view the
51 | famous erotic sculptures embedded in the temples of
52 | the village. I will be sure to practice a few new
53 | positions for the honeymoon!!
54 |
55 | Orchha was our next stop which is famous for its
56 | palace and outerlying temples which were built in the
57 | 17 century during the Mughal period. The Mughals
58 | certainly know how to build - massive. We spoilt
59 | ourselves with a night in the palace. I'm definitely
60 | in Victoria's good books for that!!
61 |
62 | In Bharatpur we visited Keoladeo Ghana Natl Park, a
63 | famous migratory birds sanctuary built 300 years ago
64 | by a local Maharaja for his sporting pleasure of
65 | shooting waterfowl. Now, about a third of the park is
66 | flooded which makes a perfect location to see the
67 | endangered Siberian crane along with many herons,
68 | stags, and geese to name just a few, which we did
69 | while riding on bicycles.
70 |
71 | Then another major highlight, in Agra - the Taj Mahal.
72 | This has got to one of the most amazing man made
73 | wonders of the world. The whole building is built out
74 | of solid marble and took 22 years to build yet only
75 | one day to take down the scaffolding! Once again the
76 | Mughals are resonsible for the building of the
77 | mausoleum. Agra is also famous for its Red Fort which
78 | has been the most impressive we've seen thus far,
79 | although I hear the forts in Rajastan are equally
80 | impressive.
81 |
82 | Now we are in New Delhi and have caught up on chores
83 | and spoilt ourselves with a few western comforts. Not
84 | to mention do some shopping. We have also had a lot of
85 | fun riding around in the auto-rickshaws (3 wheeled 2
86 | stroke engine taxis) visiting both New Delhi (British
87 | colonial influence) and Old Delhi (just manic traffic
88 | and bazaars)
89 |
90 | Thanks to those who responded and gave us a run down
91 | of what you have been up to.
92 |
93 |
94 |
95 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-01-12-cuba-the-good-and-bad.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Cuba - the good and bad
3 | creation_date: '2001-01-12'
4 | image: paper.gif
5 | author: MD
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: MD
10 |
11 | April 1999
12 |
13 | Cuba, what an interesting place??!!
14 | My arrival into Havana wasn't the best, being faced with
15 | corrupt
16 | customs and police trying to set me up with a drug import
17 | charge only
18 | to ask me to bribe them out of it so they could score a few
19 | very
20 | valuable US dollars. Their plan failed thanks to me
21 | verbally abusing
22 | them loudly so the whole airport could hear me. They
23 | realised that
24 | they had a "live one" and thought the whole scam wasn't
25 | worth it and
26 | let me go! After gaining my composure in the taxi on the
27 | way to my
28 | hotel, I found out they had no rooms left and ended up
29 | sleeping in the lounge. "Welcome to Cuba" I thought.
30 |
31 | Bearing in mind all the govt and police are corrupt, you
32 | cannot be touched as a tourist. Cuba i found is very poor
33 | and lacks a decent/modern infrastructure. Despite this the
34 | people are highly educated , friendly, but very desperate
35 | for US dollars - to pay for modern imported goods. The
36 | average doctor's salary is only US 20.00 per month! police
37 | get almost double- plus additional benefits ...bribe money.
38 | Local Cubans have no freedom of speech and if caught
39 | talking or hanging out with tourists without police
40 | approval, they can be arrested on the spot - as happened
41 | with a local who drove me and some friends between Trinidad
42 | and Sancti Spiritus just to get US dollars, only to be
43 | caught and redirected to the police station to be arrested.
44 | We as tourists were let off Scott free. One girl i met in
45 | the main square during a rave (no not a hooker!) was
46 | reluctant to show me how to Salsa due to her being afraid
47 | of being arrested by the cops as a prostitute (and no she
48 | wasn't just using it as an excuse to get away from me!).
49 |
50 | Enough negativity for now, the one thing that keeps you
51 | going is the live bands playing everywhere - rumba, salsa,
52 | jazz, Afro Cuban, etc. I didn't hear one poor band. The
53 | other bonus is the cheap RUM, Rum, Rum -did I say the Rum
54 | was cheap. I must stop that! RUM, RUM, RUM, - salsa, legs,
55 | hips, breasts...stop that! Toking on cigars goes with the
56 | territory and can be used as foreplay, not as Clinton used
57 | them though..only to smoothen out the shots of Neat RUM. To
58 | top it off... Cuban Baseball -it's arguably the best in the
59 | world. These guys have got it right over herer...gorgeous
60 | women (who dance like they're always horney!), baseball
61 | every weekend, and cheap rum and cigars. Shame they haven't
62 | git enough money to house themselves properly or food for
63 | the family. That is the whole irony of the revolution.
64 | Prior, there was a corrupt govt used as a pawn for the US
65 | govt, but at least if you worked hard, you made money and
66 | if you didn't you staved! Immediately after the revolution
67 | of the 1960s, there was a period of equal prosperity and
68 | happiness. But as Castro went doen the road of socialism
69 | towards communism, along came the police state and
70 | corruption and more poverty (not helped of course by the US
71 | Trade Embargo).
72 |
73 | Only now is the Cuban govt earning hard currency by
74 | blatantly ripping off the tourist and heavily subsidising
75 | locals. To give you an example one US dollar = 20 Cuban
76 | pesos. Locals pay 2 pesos while tourists pay USD 2.00. 20
77 | times more and the quality is piss poor. It's only when you
78 | get to the beach resorts or the top hotels where you get
79 | what you pay for (although at astronomical rates) and they
80 | don't allow any local Cubans into these areas unless they
81 | work there. A type of segregation you could say. Besides
82 | they couldn't afford to stay. Racism is running rife in
83 | that black negros are considered bottom of the pile
84 | followed by the Moletos (mixed races). Top is of course
85 | those of Spanish decent.
86 |
87 | Those thinking of travelling independently are in for a
88 | tough time. The only feasible way of affording a night's
89 | accomodation on a backpackers' budget is in a "casa
90 | particular" (private room) in locals homes. These houses
91 | are registered and there is no problem with theft, because
92 | if there was the house would automatically lose there
93 | licence and the culprit would lose their hand! Rather
94 | barbaric but effective.
95 |
96 | Of the places I reccommend...
97 | **Trinidad... is a very pretty colonial town and backs intl
98 | the Play Ancon (nice white sanded Caribbean beach and
99 | excellent for scuba).
100 | **Vinales... has a beautiful backdrop of smoothfaced
101 | limestone mountains to contrast the bright orange soils and
102 | green and brown tobacco leaves
103 | **Havana....check out the old town (slowly being
104 | renovated), have a ride in one of the many 1950s chevy
105 | taxis (that's only if you like smell of petrol fumes),
106 | exclusive Mirimar (the equivalent of Beverley Hills in the
107 | 1950s with huge mansions), Hemmingway History...and of
108 | course the "Tropicana" caberet.
109 | **Santiago de Cuba...learn all about the home of Ron (RUM)
110 | from the Bacardi family museum, visit many secluded
111 | uncrowded beaches, the castillo (castle) del Morro (famous
112 | site of battles between the US and Spanish in thelate
113 | 1800s), Gran Piedro (majestic views of Santiago and
114 | surrounding areas) and the Sierra Maestro mountain range
115 | (great hiking and significant history where the revolution
116 | began with the landing of Castro and his men from Mexico.
117 |
118 | All in all, if you want to get a lot out of Cuba, you must
119 | escape the comfort of your packaged tour, 4-5 star hotels
120 | and guided tours. Plus bring plenty of US dollars - for
121 | both legal and illegal ripoffs!
122 |
123 | Let's finish this on a positove note....bring on the
124 | Cohibas, ron, basball, live music, salsa dancing, sun,
125 | beaches, historic buildings, 1950s chevies, mojitas, cuba
126 | libres, cheap prostitutes ...did I say that...whoops.. only
127 | the Italians and French partake in that kind of activity!!
128 |
129 | Cheers
130 |
131 |
132 |
133 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-01-12-mexico-belize-guatemala.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ---
2 | title: Mexico/Belize/Guatemala
3 | creation_date: '2001-01-12'
4 | image: phone.gif
5 | author: MD
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: MD
10 |
11 | Feb/Mar 1999
12 |
13 | Dear All
14 | Well it´s been six weeks on the road throughout Mexico and
15 | Guatemala.
16 | Wow how time flies when you are enjoying the hot temps,
17 | clear skies
18 | and warm ocean. Not to forget the interesting Mayan Ruins
19 | and local
20 | Indian cultures and colours.
21 |
22 | Cervesa (beer) tastes better in hot weather!
23 |
24 | To give a quick rundown of our itinerary:
25 |
26 | 1. Mexico City - lots of parks and musueums, cool Zona Rosa
27 | area
28 |
29 | 2. Tasco - interesting little town famous for its silver
30 | craftsmen and
31 | it´s cheap. Check out page www.armyants.com (plug for Andy)
32 |
33 | 3. Alcapulco - was a beautiful place once upon a time, but
34 | now ruined
35 | by all the high rises. Appreciated the great view of the
36 | harbour at
37 | night and the famous divers (50m high)
38 |
39 | 4. Pie de la Cuesta - this place is bliss. Sun, sand, surf,
40 | dolphins
41 | and whales swimming offshore. What more can I say!
42 |
43 | 5. Oaxaca- pretty colonial town. Interesting mayan ruin at
44 | Monte Alban.
45 |
46 | Chiapas
47 | 6. Tuxtla Guiterrez - capital of Chiapas. Sumidero Canyon
48 | was
49 | impressive (1 km high, 4km long, and tons of Crocs and
50 | birdlife).
51 |
52 | 7. San Cristobal - Pretty town in the Chiapas mountains.
53 | Lots of
54 | traditional Indian clothing in vibrant colours. The
55 | outerlying
56 | villages were interesting to visit to learn about their way
57 | of life.
58 |
59 | 8. Palenque - Mayan Ruin. Quite impressive in the jungle
60 | setting.
61 | Plenty of bird life. Visited Agua Azul (famous river for
62 | its blueness
63 | similar to glacier fed lakes) to get the only day of the
64 | trip that it
65 | poured down! Tropical jungle weather I guess.
66 |
67 | Yucatan
68 | 9. Merida - Got to see the local Carnival. Plenty of
69 | colourful
70 | costumes and dance. At the same time saw President Clinton
71 | and (soon
72 | to be Senator) Hillary Clinton there in the flesh. Also
73 | visited Uxmal
74 | (another less visited mayan ruin..worth seeing) Also
75 | managed to have
76 | my bag slashed without my knowing...but amazingly nothing
77 | was taken!
78 |
79 | 10. Chichen Itza - the most famous mayan ruin in Mexico
80 | (impressive),
81 | full of American tourists on their one/two week holiday in
82 | Cancun. Get
83 | me out of here quick....
84 |
85 | 11. Playa del Carmen - spent a week to escape the
86 | backpacking mode and
87 | relax on the Caribbean beach again since Pie de la Cuesta.
88 | Celebrated
89 | Tori´s birthday in style (tons of Tequila sunrises,
90 | margheritas,
91 | coronas, dos aquis, etc). Visited Tulum Mayan ruin for the
92 | day...the
93 | beach was the only highlight.
94 |
95 | Belize
96 | 12. (former British Honduras) in one day....drove through
97 | it. Nice to
98 | read English again for less than 24 hours. Creole/Caribbean
99 | Culture.
100 | Would have liked more time to visit
101 |
102 | Guatemala
103 | 13. Tikal - the most impressive Mayan ruin we saw and in
104 | the sticks of
105 | El Peten jungle. Saw all sorts of animals...howler monkeys
106 | louder than
107 | my mother, spider monkeys, tukons, parrots, etc. Definitely
108 | worth the
109 | effort to get there. Caought a dodgey flight from there
110 | across the
111 | jungle to Guatemala City Airport. Heaps of people had
112 | motion sickness!
113 |
114 | 14. Antigua - another pretty colonial town with awesome
115 | Volcano Agua
116 | backdrop. plenty of Gringoes (foreigners) studying Spanish.
117 |
118 | 15. Lake Atitlan - Gorgeous lake with 3 volcanoes
119 | surrounding it.
120 | plenty of sun and relaxation in the treehouse to rechard the
121 | batteries...
122 |
123 | Mexico again
124 | 16. Villahermasa - home of the famous Tabasco Sauce. Have
125 | had plenty
126 | since staying here. Must have worked too well on Tori as
127 | she came done
128 | with an upset stomach!
129 |
130 | Anyway that´s about it for this email
131 |
132 |
133 |
134 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-01-12-nemaste.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ---
2 | title: Nemaste
3 | creation_date: '2001-01-12'
4 | image: phone.gif
5 | author: MD
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: MD
10 |
11 | Oct/Nov 2000
12 |
13 | "NEPAL"
14 |
15 | We spent our first 3 days in Bangkok catching up with a
16 | friend of mine before arriving in Kathmandu.
17 |
18 | Talk about Kathmandu being a definite "gringo" hangout here
19 | in Nepal. There's everything that you could possibly think
20 | of needing, plus more for all your activities, and they are
21 | all for great prices. Kathmandu is a rather hectic place,
22 | but, also very easy to slot into in no time. The main
23 | attraction in Kathmandu is all the temples, but after a
24 | couple of days you have to escape to the mountains for the
25 | fresh air and relaxed pace of life, which we did.
26 |
27 | To get there we used the local transport - always a bit
28 | dodgey, especially given the number of buses leaving the
29 | road and lying in the valleys below!! The most comfortable
30 | way to travel is on the roof rack. You have uninterupted
31 | views and can jump clear if the bus leaves the road!(which
32 | it didn't)
33 |
34 | Our Treking adventure "The Annapurna Curcuit" began in a
35 | village below
36 | 1000mtrs surrounded by terraced rice paddy fields. For the
37 | first 5 days it rained on and off. We walked an average of
38 | 5 hours a day - taking it easy!! Upon reaching the Manang
39 | valley the clouds finally lifted and our views were
40 | spectacular, taking in the Annapurna mountains between 7000-
41 | 8000mtrs. Throughout the trek the villages have guesthouses
42 | where trekkers "crash" for the night with "dal bhat" being
43 | the common meal(made up of rice lentils, soup, curry veg).
44 |
45 | Electricity is only a recent luxury - it has been there for
46 | only 6yrs. Plus, they now have solar showers so trekers can
47 | get a"hot",
48 | mostly luke warm shower!! Our sights during the trek varied
49 | from one place to the next - Majestic waterfalls, hot
50 | springs(to soothe those aching muscles), raging rapids, &
51 | multicoloured buterflies and birds.
52 | You are constantly sharing the trail with locals, cows,
53 | sheep, yaks, and the many donkey convoys which supply goods
54 | to the villages, not to mention the porters who carry
55 | supplies on many occasions over one and a half their
56 | bodyweight!!!
57 |
58 | Before attempting to cross Thorung La(5416mtrs)we spent a
59 | few days
60 | acclimatising to the altitude. This was done in the Manang
61 | valley above 3800mtrs. Otherwise we could have ended up
62 | with altitude sickness, a very common problem when
63 | ascending too quickly(at 5000mtr there is only 50% oxygen
64 | that you have at sea level)
65 |
66 | There is a huge Tibetan influence here, which can be seen
67 | in the type of house - flat roofs, mud bricks etc. The
68 | valley along with the next valley we crossed into(Manang
69 | and the Mustang valley) are both in the rain shadow to the
70 | north of the Annapurna Range so they are very dry and
71 | baron. Not like the rest of our time in the Mountains.
72 |
73 | We had no problems conquering Thorung La(La means Pass) at
74 | 5416mtrs. Yes, metres above sea level!! So from there
75 | onwards it was down hill most of the way. We certainly
76 | enjoyed descending quickly but is was very hard on the
77 | legs!! I was in heaven in a small village where he found a
78 | pub with satelite TV showing the World Cup Rugby!! And to
79 | make it even better they were serving cheap potent apple
80 | cider plus apricot brandy!!
81 |
82 | As we decended further the vegetation changed from very
83 | little to pine forests to tropical forests. Before we
84 | reached Pokhara, the end of the trek, we had one final
85 | climb to get one final look at the amazing views of the
86 | Himalayan Mountains. Well as we had started the hike in the
87 | rain it decided to rain for us on our last day !!
88 |
89 | So after 18 days of treking we made it to Pokhara, a town
90 | beside a lovely lake with a view of the mountains we had
91 | just hiked around. It was heaven to be able to have hot
92 | showers, western food and of course satelite TV for me to
93 | watch the World Cup Rugby!! So I hope that this wasn't
94 | too long a read and we will both look forward to hearing
95 | what you are all up to at the moment!!
96 |
97 |
98 |
99 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-01-12-south-africa.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: South Africa
3 | creation_date: '2001-01-12'
4 | image: phone.gif
5 | author: MD
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: MD
10 |
11 | Apr/May 1999
12 |
13 | I got in from South Africa a few days ago after enjoying a
14 | month travelling up the coast from Cape Town to
15 | Johannesburg via Durban and Swaziland. What a great way to
16 | unwind before arriving home. I would reccommend South
17 | Africa to anyone as there is so much to see and do, as I
18 | will explain in my summary below:
19 |
20 | I flew in to Cape Town passing by Table Mountain to
21 | the airport. The first thing I noticed on arrival
22 | was the relaxed pace of life which I had almost forgotten
23 | existed in the Southern Hemisphere. Bliss!
24 |
25 | I spent 10 days in Cape Town (Kaapstad - in Afrikans)which
26 | allowed me to see and do a lot. Some of the highlights
27 | included a drive out to Cape of Good Hope, climbing Table
28 | Mountain, enjoying a Stellenbosch Vineyard tour, visiting
29 | the famous Cape Flats black townships, sipping on a few
30 | sundowners at "Le Med" in Clifton, watching Gary Kirsten's
31 | cricket testimonial at Newlands Cricket Stadium over a
32 | braai (BBQ)under the scoreboard, and also the Super 12
33 | match between Western Stormers and Auckland Blues in a
34 | 48000 one eyed Newlands crowd! I can't get over how
35 | beautiful Cape Town is as a city. It certainly has to rate
36 | in the top 5 I've visited.
37 |
38 | I next headed up the coast along the Garden Route to a
39 | small holiday resort called Knysna where I enjoyed the
40 | outdoors. I spent 2 days mountain biking, kayaking, and
41 | abseiling/rapjumping. Awesome.
42 |
43 | Then I headed to a small seaside village called Kenton-on-
44 | Sea. It was a pretty sleepy retirementholiday destination
45 | but the locals were extremely friendly and knowledgeable
46 | about their country both sport and politic/history. It also
47 | had reasonable surf for boogieboarding.
48 |
49 | After a couple of days I headed to East London for a week
50 | where I caught up with friends of mine who I worked with in
51 | London (UK). While there I pretty much just hung out
52 | catching up and relaxing while occasionally visiting the
53 | beach.
54 |
55 | Durban was next stop but not before going through the
56 | Transkei (Nelson Mandela country). Just beautiful.
57 |
58 | Unfortunately I didn't get to camping out on the wild coast
59 | as I had stayed longer than I had planned in East London.
60 | Still there's always next time. Anyway once in Durban I
61 | caught up with Joanne (my mate Adrian's girlfriend). She
62 | showed me how to party the South African way....heaps of
63 | braais, booze, and friendly hospitality. A great weekend,
64 | but very full on.
65 |
66 | My next stop was the game reserves of Umfolozu & Hluhluwe
67 | in Zululand. I spent 3 days in and around here viewing many
68 | animals including...giraffe, zebra, cape buffalo, water
69 | buffalo, white rhinos, black rhinos, warthogs, elephants,
70 | hippos, but no leopards or lions. Pretty amazing and great
71 | photo opportunities. I also got to visit a local traditional
72 | zulu village. Very interesting culture and crafts.
73 |
74 | My last stop before flying home was Swaziland. Wow what a
75 | wonderful place and very interesting culture. While here I
76 | enjoyed more game reserve viewing, visit to a modern Swazi
77 | village and the memorial of their late king, who has been
78 | very influencial in keeping peace and diplomacy in the
79 | Southern part of Africa for the past 60years. We stayed in
80 | a large game lodge. A great place to wake up to....bird's
81 | chirping, waterbuck feeding from the waterhole in front of
82 | the lodge, hippos belching, etc. A mini paradise.
83 |
84 |
85 |
86 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-04-05-lava-beds-ate-our-shoes-maui-hi.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Lava Beds Ate Our Shoes; Maui, HI
3 | creation_date: '2001-04-05'
4 | image: book.gif
5 | author: Mark Kashman (mkashman)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Mark Kashman (mkashman)
10 |
11 | Lava Beds Ate Our Shoes
12 |
13 | "Says here just two miles to the deserted black-sand beach,"
14 | said Carolyna, my wife and love now doning her sneakers in
15 | place of the recently purchased flip-flops; though they need
16 | be called flip-flopOFFs! Ten bucks doesn't buy a nice pair of
17 | anything.
18 |
19 | To set the scene, we stood on the southern part of Maui, mid
20 | March, at an area called La Perouse Bay. To the east, Mt.
21 | Haleakala rises and peaks out at 10,000+ feet. Hot sun pelts
22 | our northwestern faces challenging its way through our 15
23 | spf. The breeding humpback whales full-body breach or tail
24 | slap about every twenty minutes. It is about midday on a
25 | weekday. And the road that brought us here ends. Only 4x4
26 | trucks and jeeps dare to rove beyond the parking lot. By the
27 | looks of the first few obstacles, I'd say the local auto
28 | parts stores have seen a few people who said 'ta-heck with
29 | it, let's give it a try' - the smell of oil and the echoing
30 | sound of metal upon rock...
31 |
32 | The book's description (a wonderful book called 'Maui
33 | Revealed') reads like a poetic dandelion gently blown on a
34 | fine summer day. It described a small remote beach brimming
35 | with shoreline darkness in an oasis of greenery in the middle
36 | of an expansive lava field. Our eyes read over the parts
37 | about the greenery and beach. Our feet fixated on the part
38 | about the lava, and translated it thus- lava=pumice=porous=
39 | rough=ouch=rubber=gone! So, ok, no open toed shoes, right?
40 |
41 | Right! With flip-flops removed, Carolyna is ready to brave
42 | the trail, known as the King's Highway, with low-top Chuck
43 | Taylors. Me, I sport a similar pair of blue Vans.
44 |
45 | The first part of the trail is pretty easy. It is about a
46 | half mile into it where the true grit falls beneath our feet.
47 | It is both a treasure and a trick to see the King's Highway
48 | lay out in front of us. The trail splits right down the
49 | middle of a jagged, arid landscape full of stories of foot
50 | traffic from the past. We imagine Hawaiian Kings carried upon
51 | wheel-less carriages and servants manipulating the rocky
52 | terrain below. The ocean sounds boom in the distance and the
53 | wind howls. Within the first few hundred yards we figure the
54 | Hawaiian servants would have been using a whole book of
55 | silent expletives by now.
56 |
57 | I couldn't get over the fact that the native Hawaiians wore
58 | no shoes on the King's Highway. Two steps on the crumbly lava
59 | with bare feet would've left me wincing like a baby. Each
60 | step tests the durability of both our shoes, our feet, and
61 | ankles too. The rocks just whittle away at the soles of our
62 | shoes like wood to a swiss army knife.
63 |
64 | One other important aspect the book stresses is how much
65 | water to bring... a lot! It's amazing how lava soaks up the
66 | sun and makes the aura of the Earth breathe fire with an
67 | updraft of air that pulsates the mist of mirage. Phew! So we
68 | drink like fish till our gills burst. Then we sweat, than we
69 | drink more. We are evaporative coolers humming right along.
70 |
71 | After two miles we come upon the turn in the trail we had
72 | read about. "Hang a left and go into the green oasis." So we
73 | do. We don't believe it at first because it looks too real to
74 | be real. But, once off the main highway we actually start to
75 | dodge tree branches. Now, this wouldn't be a strange thing
76 | for the rest of Maui, but here among the rocks stands a mass
77 | of trees defying the rest of the bleak landscape. They appear
78 | so green in contrast, like someone had cranked the chroma
79 | colors on the TV set.
80 |
81 | The path finally wanders its way around and plops us right
82 | onto a pristine black-sand beach. And instantly we are
83 | beckoned into action and rest; I into snorkel gear and
84 | Carolyna to the towel armed with a thick book and sunglasses.
85 | Boom the water is cool. The beach is hot. No one is around
86 | and our feet are free of sneakers, now well worn and slightly
87 | rounded on the bottoms. Yes! This is the destination. This is
88 | the call of the wild. This is where turtles float down below.
89 | And whale sounds permeate the ocean. This is a pretty darn
90 | nice place on a sunny midday weekday.
91 |
92 | And this is how we destined that day in Maui - to seek to
93 | define the road less traveled. Well, that was on this day.
94 | The next day we spent chasing piña coladas with flower-
95 | patterned hats shaded from the sun. The flip-flops flipped
96 | back on and nothing but Aloha all around.
97 |
98 |
99 |
100 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-08-19-mystic-connecticut.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: mystic, connecticut
3 | creation_date: '2001-08-19'
4 | image: hut.gif
5 | author: jessica
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: jessica
10 |
11 | WE STAYED AT A WONDERFUL, UNIQUE BED AND BREAKFAST INN LAST
12 | FALL. THIS PLACE TAKES A STEP BACK INTO HISTORY. THE
13 | BUILDING WAS BUILT IN THE 1700'S, AND IS HISTORICALLY
14 | CORRECT IN THE FURNISHINGS. IF ANYONE LOVES REAL ANTIQUES
15 | AND NOT JUST FAKE OR "CUTE CURTAINS" DECORATING, GO THERE.
16 | THE NAME IS RED BROOK INN, MYSTIC
17 |
18 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-08-20-travel-tips-for-the-first-time-to-cuba.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Travel tips for the first time to Cuba
3 | creation_date: '2001-08-20'
4 | image: postcard.gif
5 | author: vedadohabana
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: vedadohabana
10 |
11 | Travel Tips For Your Cuban Trip.There is a very useful information for the first time to Cuba about Tourist Card, Money matters,Havana Cuba Weather Forecast,Cuban Maps,Timetables for Buses, Bicycling Cuba,Private Accommodation, Swimming with the dolphins in Cuba,Cuban outdoors, Havana John Lennon Park, Cuban Popular Dances,Havana University Spanish Course, and some interactive tours around Santa Clara, Trinidad, Cienfuegos and the San Pasqual floating Hotel, Elguea Mud Hotel.You may take a look at:http://www.geocities.com/vedadohabana/lalala.html
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-10-10-travel-in-italy-after-september-th.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: travel in Italy after September 11th
3 | creation_date: '2001-10-10'
4 | image: book.gif
5 | author: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
10 |
11 | Italy is magnificent in the fall. I have never spent time
12 | here and not found it to be incredible, but the weather is
13 | absolutely perfect for fall. Sunny, with a little rain in
14 | the mornings to clean the air.
15 |
16 | I am sure I was not alone in my thinking about getting on
17 | an airplane after September 11th. I definitely gave it
18 | more reflection and thought than I would have given it
19 | before that day. I have read countless pieces via email or
20 | on different web sites about what pilots have said before
21 | take off, and about what passengers have done to those
22 | sitting next to them, both negative and positive. Nothing
23 | out of the ordinary occurred, no tear jerking speeches from
24 | the cockpit, and no suspicious eyes following anyone as far
25 | as I could tell. Things seemed to be back to normal, as
26 | best they could.
27 |
28 | I wonder if this is the way it should be after something
29 | like the attacks. One part of me hopes that this will be a
30 | catalyst for people to review what is going on in the rest
31 | of the world. I worry this will mean that Americans will
32 | stop visiting other parts of the world, people will entrust
33 | their vacations to resorts and Disney and cruise ships. As
34 | an American I feel that Americans are blessed in that we
35 | live in a country rich in resources and full of people with
36 | new ideas about how they want to live their lives, but I
37 | also see the isolationism that we are a part of because of
38 | our geographic location in the world, and because of the
39 | policies of our government in a great many cases. I hope
40 | that despite the terrible things that happened several
41 | weeks ago that Americans, and all people around the world,
42 | choose to learn more about the rest of the world because of
43 | it, instead of closeting themselves more because of fear.
44 |
45 | Today we visited the Sistine Chapel. I missed it the first
46 | time I went to Italy several years ago. I almost did not
47 | take this trip because of the threat of more terrorism. I
48 | am really glad I did. Nothing can describe the amazement
49 | when you stand beneath those works of art, and everyone
50 | should have the opportunity to see that. It truly is a
51 | testament to the power of religion, and devotion. After
52 | some introspection, the issues of today are not so
53 | different as they were hundreds and thousands of years
54 | ago. Religion and a search for power still drive people to
55 | do incredible acts, and also commit terrible atrocities.
56 |
57 | One thing never changes as we walk around the cities of
58 | Italy. We have seen people from all over Europe, and all
59 | over Asia, and people from the Middle East, and all other
60 | parts of the world. As you travel, you notice that their
61 | mannerisms might differ slightly, and their dress might not
62 | be the same as what you see in your home country, but at
63 | their very depths, people are people. We walked around
64 | Milan late at night the day America began bombing, and as
65 | if by fate, we walked by countless groups of Arabs out in
66 | the streets, listening to radios. My heart beat faster,
67 | but why? No one cared who I was. They were only
68 | interested in getting more information about the attacks,
69 | just like I was. And on the train from Florence to Rome
70 | yesterday, we overheard people talking about the "war," and
71 | I have yet to hear someone here speak out in support of
72 | this war, or any war.
73 |
74 | I love to travel. It is a selfish thing in so many ways,
75 | just to expose myself to things that I think are
76 | beautiful. But, travel also exposes you to the rest of the
77 | world, and no matter what politicians want you to think
78 | about the rest of the world, people are people and
79 | individually people do not look to kill or injure other
80 | people. I hope that people can remember this after
81 | September 11th, and continue to remember that we are not so
82 | different from our neighbors around the world.
83 |
84 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-10-17-watch-out-for-borin-the-cab-driver.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: watch out for Borin the Cab Driver
3 | creation_date: '2001-10-17'
4 | image: camera.gif
5 | author: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
10 |
11 | I left my new "sobe" (private room) angry and bitter.
12 | After all the time I have put in traveling, I still should
13 | know better than to trust a cab driver to find me lodging.
14 | After a very nice stay in Hotel Lapad, I decided to call
15 | Borin, my cab driver from the airport to Dubrovnik, and
16 | accept his offer to find me something near the city
17 | at "1/10 the price" as he had told me. My first mistake
18 | was that I should have known that there would be a finder's
19 | fee or a trumped up fare to the place, and thought I didn't
20 | see the finders fee I am sure it was there, judging by the
21 | bargains he found for me. The trumped up fare was there,
22 | to be sure, in the form of 80 kuna, or $10. The fare to
23 | the airport was twice this, but took almost 30 minutes,
24 | while this took five. After exhausting myself by climbing
25 | up the stairs to the first sobe he found, and then arguing
26 | over the price for a place that I really had no interest in
27 | staying in, I finally succumbed to a worse deal after the
28 | second sobe shark latched on to me during the feeding.
29 | When I finally dropped my bag down the stairs, and went in
30 | to take a shower, I was almost not surprised to see there
31 | was no shower curtain, and the floor was completely soaked
32 | when I finished my shower. This, despite pointing the head
33 | to the wall the entire time, and turning off the water to
34 | soap up and down. This at a price of 150 kuna, or about
35 | $20, which is low all considered, but the same price I
36 | would have paid for breakfast, a stellar view, and a decent
37 | bathroom at the first joint.
38 |
39 | The walled city of Dubrovnik would have none of this, and
40 | instantly banished all of those thoughts leaving me in
41 | awe. I decided to leave the sobe and get some dinner. I
42 | walked down a few stairs to see the entrance to the city
43 | looming above me. The view from the bridge was stunning to
44 | say the least, as I looked out over the small inlet where
45 | lightly illuminated boats hovered, protected by another arm
46 | of the city. I walked down countless cobblestone streets,
47 | jaw gaping, running my fingers over the limestone walls
48 | which towered sometimes over a hundred feet above me.
49 |
50 | I decided to stop for dinner at the Dubrovnik Terrace.
51 | Almost empty it was, but fun. As I waited on my order, I
52 | watched Wheel of Fortune in Croatian. Unlike the American
53 | version, I didn't know any of the answers. The man waiting
54 | on me, as if to challenge the old world inside the city,
55 | had programmed his phone to ring with the song to Brittni
56 | Spears "Oops, I did it again." American culture pervades
57 | everywhere, unfortunately. I ate a sea bass, which he
58 | promised had been caught the same day. It was good. A
59 | glass of wine was only 12 kuna, which amounted to about
60 | $1.50.
61 |
62 | Today I swam in the blue water of the sea, avoiding sea
63 | urchins and feeling the squish of the sea kelp underneath
64 | my feet on top of the volcanic rock. Dubrovnik is truly
65 | beautiful.
66 |
67 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-10-18-diving-in-dubrovnik.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Diving in Dubrovnik
3 | creation_date: '2001-10-18'
4 | image: star.gif
5 | author: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
10 |
11 | I went diving in Dubrovnik this morning. Anton met me at his
12 | shop down the road the pertol station in Lapad. We geared up
13 | and left out to one of the islands a few kilometers from shore.
14 |
15 | The first stop we made was for a cave dive. It was just the
16 | two of us, so Anton dropped his gear into the water after
17 | filling his BCD vest with air, and helped me into my two
18 | wetsuits, one with a hood, and then into my BCD. I dropped
19 | into the water and then he followed. I was glad that he had
20 | suggested the second wetsuit, since the water was clear but
21 | extremely cold, and got colder as we went deeper.
22 |
23 | As we went around the walls near the island, we saw
24 | countless beds of coral, some with orange colored algae, but
25 | most with a dark green. There were sea urchins everywhere.
26 | Most of them had a half shell stuck in their thorns, despite
27 | the fact that there is no way their spines could pierce a
28 | clam shell. I think this is the same phenomenon as teenage
29 | boys who wear "Elevate and decide in the air" basketball
30 | t-shirts. Sort of a ridiculous badge of honor. Their were
31 | even albino sea urchins down there, or perhaps they were
32 | dead and had lost all their purple.
33 |
34 | After trolling around the edge of the island, we came across
35 | a black hole in the wall. I had only about a fourth of a
36 | tank left, but Anton motioned that this was OK, and we
37 | proceeded into it. On the surface he had said that it went
38 | back about 200 meters. It seems now like this was much
39 | exaggerated, maybe my excitement caught up with me. Anton
40 | held an underwater flashlight, and I followed the light more
41 | than I followed him. The "cave" was in reality more of a
42 | crack in the wall, and I slithered through with my tank
43 | bumping against the walls on the side and above me, and
44 | tried to keep up with Anton. As we came around the edge of
45 | the cave his light disappeared several times which was
46 | unconfortable. Finally we arrived at a open area and I could
47 | see the surface of the water as Anton pointed the flashlight
48 | upward. Ascending slowly, we broke the surface. Everything
49 | was black inside the cave without Anton's flashlight. When
50 | he shined it on the roof, a few feet above us, we could see
51 | tiny stalagtites, brownish and gooey. Anton said they looked
52 | like shark's teeth, and I thought this was a pretty
53 | inappropriate observation at that time. We then went back
54 | into the water and he pointed to the entrance, and we could
55 | see the light blue crack from the opposite side.
56 |
57 | As it turned out we descended to about 38 meters. I didn't
58 | have a depth gauge on my regulator, so I had no idea. The
59 | water was so clear and bright that I had thought we hadn't
60 | dropped beneath 15 meters or so. We were under for around 45
61 | minutes, which was a pretty long time for the depth we were
62 | at, although this wasn't our total bottom time.
63 |
64 | After we ascended and rested a bit, Anton said that we would
65 | then visit a bomb dropped during WWII by the Germans, and
66 | then proceed to a wreck and then see another cave. In fact
67 | we saw three German bombs at the bottom. All of them were
68 | completely corroded and you could see that they were empty
69 | inside. Borin the cab driver had told me that some people
70 | here in Dubrovnik would take mines found around the area and
71 | stuff them into fish which would then explode in the water
72 | later. Didn't look like there was much in the way of live
73 | ammunition down there, due in part to the heavy salt water.
74 | But one thing is for sure, war leaves even more than just
75 | death and hatred.
76 |
77 | After we looped around the first German bomb, we descended
78 | to see the sunken ship. The hull had almost completely
79 | settled into the ocean floor so you could only see the top
80 | of it, but many other pieces of the boat remained scattered
81 | about. Anton said it was a tourist boat which had
82 | unfortunately encountered engine problems, and the Serbs had
83 | shot it down with machine guns. Only a few people had died
84 | apparently. It was strange to see such geometric shapes in
85 | the water after seeing the smooth rockiness of the coral in
86 | the earlier dive. Another bomb sat on the floor next to the
87 | wreck. Lots of fish gathered about it as well; wrecks
88 | usually provide shelter similar to natural reefs for the
89 | marine life, and this one was no different. In a few years
90 | the sea will probably have beaten it to a pulp and the ship
91 | will return to the dust. As we went in the direction of the
92 | cave, Anton seemed almost clairvoyant as he found several
93 | little octopus, and a sea eel which had a head the size of a
94 | a coke bottle and probably several feet in length. Maybe
95 | even the sea animals are interested in improving tourism in
96 | Croatia? After he found his friends, I looked and looked,
97 | but nothing ever looked different than grey sand until Anton
98 | pointed his light at something and it jetted off in a cloud
99 | of black ink.
100 |
101 | Finally, we reach the other cave. As a now experienced cave
102 | diver, I had less anxiety in entering this one. This again
103 | was somewhat like a crack in the wall. This cave, however,
104 | opened into the air within some rocky walls going up. "This
105 | is like a little lake," mentioned Anton. We then descended
106 | back into the water, and followed the crack down. After we
107 | reached the boat, Anton informed me that we had reached 28
108 | meters at the lowest depth. Getting back into the boat, the
109 | fillings in my teeth stung a little bit from the pressure
110 | over the two dives.
111 |
112 | These two dives, stretching over a few hours, cost me around
113 | $80, two dives ($58), including equipment rental ($20), the
114 | Croatian diving license good for one year (about 100 Kuna or
115 | $12), and the free boat ride out. Well worth it. Anton can
116 | be reached at 435-737, via email at diver@vdu.hr or
117 | http://diver.vdu.hr/
118 |
119 |
120 |
121 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-10-21-mirogoj-cemetery-in-zagreb.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb
3 | creation_date: '2001-10-21'
4 | image: star.gif
5 | author: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Chris Dawson (cdawson)
10 |
11 | This morning I decided to visit Mirogoj cemetery, in the
12 | north part of Zagreb. I got on the bus at the stop above
13 | the Dolac market. I wasn't sure about where to get off for
14 | the cemetery, but when I saw the countless older women
15 | holding bouquets of flowers, I knew that I could just
16 | follow them off and everything would be alright. I bought
17 | an all day ticket on the bus for 16 kuna after a woman on
18 | the bus politely explained in English that I could buy the
19 | ticket right there. I was worried that I would have to
20 | find a newspaper stand down in Trg Jelaèiæa.
21 |
22 | Anyone who had forgotten flowers in their haste needn't
23 | have worried, for there were plenty of flower stands
24 | dotting the edge of the cemetery as the bus pulled up and
25 | dropped us off. The cemetery is enclosed in by a great
26 | wall with parapets every few dozen meters. The entranceway
27 | to the cemetery is truly amazing, with ivy covered walls
28 | and arched doorways. The entrance to St. Peter should be
29 | so beautiful.
30 |
31 | I sit down after walking for a while in front of the grave
32 | of a one Marieta Pollack. It is a really big tomb, about
33 | ten feet wide and six or seven feet deep. She lived from
34 | 1875 until 1925, so this is one of the older tombs in the
35 | cemetery I imagine. There are a few other names added to
36 | her headstone. None of the names seem to have the same
37 | last name as she did. This was different from the rest of
38 | the tombstones which often had "Obitelj Markovic"
39 | or "Obitelj Balantin" inscribed upon it. From my little
40 | yellow dictionary I soon learned that "obitelj"
41 | means "family." Her headstone has the Star of David on it,
42 | and something in Hebrew which I cannot read, but which I
43 | see on a good number of the stones in this area of the
44 | cemetery. There is an inscription that reads "Što ljubav
45 | spaja smrt ne razdvaja."
46 |
47 | Her headstone seems to be on the edge of the Jewish section
48 | of Mirogoj. Towards the edge of the cemetery I began to
49 | notice more and more German names, last names like Weiss
50 | and first names like Adolf. And, at the same time, more
51 | and more of the tombstones began to replace the long cross
52 | with the Star of David. The tombs are in most other ways
53 | identical to the rest of the ones I saw previously;
54 | typically black marble slabs on top of a black box, which
55 | was set into the ground, and with a matching stone
56 | headpiece sitting perpendicular to the ground. Marieta
57 | Pollack's grave also had a small bench in front of it.
58 | This wasn't typical. Only a few of the graves had a
59 | bench. About half of the benches had a back to them, and
60 | this back always forced the person sitting in the bench to
61 | face the grave, as if to remind the person for what they
62 | were here. Some of the other benches had no backing, as if
63 | to say that they appreciated whatever closeness and company
64 | they could get. I found it interesting that the benches
65 | with the back piece on them almost always were covered in
66 | moss and in greater disrepair than the ones with a back.
67 |
68 | This truly is one of the most beautiful places I have
69 | visited in Croatia. The small paths through the cemetery
70 | cut straight through the graves, dividing them into large
71 | groups of several hundred tombs. I could not tell if these
72 | larger groups had any particular significance. Trees line
73 | the edges of the paths, and since it is early fall when I
74 | am visiting, the leaves, some of which litter the path and
75 | some of which stil cling to the tree branches, contrast
76 | nicely with the grey sky and the gravelly stone under my
77 | feet. The land in the cemetery is uneven, and the paths
78 | roll up and down the ground between the tombs. In most
79 | cases these paths go straight, but around the edges the
80 | paths curve and bend.
81 |
82 | Today is Sunday, and the people here are almost all
83 | elderly, although I am not sure if this is normal. The
84 | footsteps over the concrete paths remind you of this fact;
85 | broken and deliberate footsteps, sometimes you can hear one
86 | foot as it is slowly dragged behind the other. Shhhh-tk.
87 | Shhhh-tk. Some people hover over the graves, holding
88 | flowers. Some dilligently clean the marble slabs with
89 | containers of water, brooms and by simply picking off the
90 | leaves. Some do this alone, while others have come in
91 | groups. As I pass people I try to check the date of the
92 | tombstone. One older man must have buried his wife
93 | recently; her tombstone says 2000. He stands alone in the
94 | long row of graves where he brushes the dirt from her grave.
95 |
96 | As I continue about the cemetery, it seems like many of the
97 | graves followed the style of those around them. In one
98 | section most are black marble, with similar boxy
99 | construction. In other areas the stone is a lighter
100 | color. As I progress back to the entrace, there is more
101 | originality, some graves even add black wrought iron fences
102 | around them. I find it funny that there are several tombs
103 | on the very edge of each divided section which are so
104 | plain, in sharp contrast to the other tombs which are so
105 | careful assembled and planned. These simple tombs must get
106 | more attention from tourists like me than the more
107 | elaborate ones in the center. Then there are the older,
108 | fancier graves which in their day must have been
109 | magnificent, but in their decrepitude remind everyone that
110 | no matter what your legacy in life, death has a way of
111 | limiting your power over the future.
112 |
113 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-11-03-smoking-in-the-hague.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: smoking in the hague
3 | creation_date: '2001-11-03'
4 | image: hut.gif
5 | author: shareena78
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: shareena78
10 |
11 | The Netherlands is a wonderful place to visit. Steer clear from Amsterdam during the summer time as it is all so touristy and does not resemble what the real part of the Netherlands is all about. Although the country is small, the people are fantastic. I went to school there, and had the opportunity and pleasure to meet many Dutch and foreign students. The Hague is a nice place, very small but has the government buildings, the Peace Palace and many art exhibitions going on constantly. A couple of good places to visit in the Netherlands are Utrecht, Oudewater (where the women were weighed to see if they were witches), Gouda, Leiden and of course Amsterdam. There are many cathedrals and canals of course, but there is so much more to see than that. Check out the Paradiso in Amsterdam as a must see club, the Van Gogh Museum, take a boat ride, try out the boat parties and underground places such as The Dag Maart or the Blauw Aanslaag (The Hague) and also try out the herring (which I didn't do as I don't like fish too well). Especially check out Cremers as the one and best coffee shop in the hague. I travelled and saw quite a lot on my trip to Holland but living there and immersing myself in the culture was the best part of it all. I reccomend Holland as more than a place to visit, it should be place to live and love.
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-12-02-check-out-this-travel-planning-website.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Check out this Travel Planning Website
3 | creation_date: '2001-12-02'
4 | image: paper.gif
5 | author: tadon
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: tadon
10 |
11 | I used this place and found the information presented and
12 | prices to be much better than the other usual suspects.
13 |
14 | Travel-Ascending.com
15 |
16 | http://www.travel-ascending.com/
17 |
18 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2001-12-30-bhutan-monsoons-and-miracles.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: 'Bhutan: Monsoons and Miracles'
3 | creation_date: '2001-12-30'
4 | layout: post
5 | ---
6 |
7 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2002-05-07-the-bardo-museum.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: The Bardo Museum
3 | creation_date: '2002-05-07'
4 | layout: post
5 | ---
6 |
7 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2002-07-06-a-day-in-beijing.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: A Day in Beijing
3 | creation_date: '2002-07-06'
4 | image: phone.gif
5 | author: Danny Spitler (dispitler)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Danny Spitler (dispitler)
10 |
11 | China Chapters
12 | Volume 2
13 | The Forbidden City
14 | By: Danny Spitler (dispitler@aol.com)
15 |
16 | We arrived at the China World Hotel around noon on
17 | Saturday, China time. We had lost a day crossing the
18 | International Dateline. The hotel was five star in all
19 | respects and could rival any Hyatt Regency that I have ever
20 | stayed in. On a quick visit to the basement level I found
21 | a fully equipped weight room, a 20-meter lap pool, a steam
22 | room, sauna, whirlpool, and a cold plunge. I wouldn't have
23 | any trouble doing my upper body exercises while we were in
24 | Beijing, and from the looks of the schedule my legs were
25 | going to get all the work they needed.
26 |
27 | The hotel provided a private room for our group's "welcome
28 | to China" dinner, and we all headed for bed in an attempt
29 | to get our bodies on China time (15 hours ahead of Mountain
30 | standard). Ten hours later we were standing in Tinanmen
31 | Square. It was Sunday so there were thousands of weekend
32 | Chinese tourists as well as locals joining us in the
33 | square, but it is the largest town square in the world so
34 | there was plenty of room for all of us. We split up for a
35 | while then regrouped for the mandatory group picture with
36 | the Gate of Heavenly Peace in the background. This is the
37 | entrance to the Forbidden City and the place where Mao Ze
38 | Dung stood to proclaim the beginning of the People's
39 | Republic of China on October 1, 1949. You can imagine the
40 | party that they are going to have here in a couple of
41 | months at the 50th anniversary of that event.
42 |
43 | For our group picture a couple of the girls cajoled an
44 | uniformed policemen into joining our group for the
45 | picture. He seemed cordial enough, but as I looked at the
46 | single red star on his shirt and cap, I couldn't help but
47 | wonder if he might have been wielding an automatic weapon
48 | and gunning down students on this very spot several years
49 | ago.
50 |
51 | From the huge square we walked through a walkway under the
52 | main street facing the square and emerged across the street
53 | to enter the Gate of Heavenly Peace and into the Forbidden
54 | City. Our Beijing guide, Jon Jin, purchased our tickets
55 | and we were transferred from modern day China to six
56 | centuries earlier as we began to wander through the huge
57 | city built exclusively for the many emperors who ruled
58 | China for over two milleniums.
59 |
60 | It was hot and humid and there were thousands of other
61 | tourists to contend with, but nothing could detract me from
62 | being amazed with what we were viewing. The Disney
63 | Corporation has had no input into crowd control at this
64 | place, and in order to see the emperor's throne you had to
65 | fight your way through hundreds of other tourists.
66 | Everyone was struggling to get to a small viewing point,
67 | where only a dozen people could stand. Most of our group
68 | didn't attempt it, but I dove headfirst into the melee and
69 | grasp that rarest of feelings..….being one of the tallest
70 | persons in the crowd. After five minutes of squirming
71 | through every opening, no matter how small, I found myself
72 | standing in from of the massive throne. I stayed only long
73 | enough to take a well-earned photo and then started
74 | fighting my way back out of the crowd. I finally broke
75 | free with the feeling that I had just had an intimate
76 | encounter with a small percentage of the Chinese
77 | population.
78 |
79 | We continued to wander from one amazing site to another
80 | listening to Jon Jin provide interesting facts and stories
81 | along the way until we finally arrived at a building
82 | housing some of the emperor's private rooms. We were able
83 | to view the rooms though a glass wall, which was
84 | sufficiently smudged with many days of pollution,
85 | fingerprints and nose prints. I thought about the
86 | potential profits of a Windex concession stand. The ladies
87 | in our group were interested in hearing about the elaborate
88 | robes and the spectacular jewel encrusted crowns, necklaces
89 | and rings worn by the emperor. The males in the group were
90 | more interested in the concubine statistics. According to
91 | Jon Jin the emperor kept a significant number of concubines
92 | on his staff, and when he decided which one he would sleep
93 | with on a given night she would be delivered to him naked,
94 | in order to insure that she was not carrying any weapons.
95 | Then she would have to crawl to his bed on her hands and
96 | knees to make sure that her head was never higher than his
97 | head. This was a major no-no. I think that we can
98 | conclude from this story that sex has not changed much over
99 | the last few centuries. We still take time to remove the
100 | jewelry and there is still groveling involved. We have
101 | just had gender role reversal.
102 |
103 | Prior to exiting the Forbidden City we were ushered into a
104 | gift shop where the People's Republic gave us every
105 | opportunity to contribute filthy, capitalistic, Yankee
106 | dollars to Chinese economic development. Then we were
107 | whisked through some narrow residential streets to a
108 | restaurant that was tucked back off the beaten path. As it
109 | turned out this was one of Chairman Mao's favorite places
110 | to eat. His smiling face adorned the wall of the entryway,
111 | and I assumed that he signed his picture with Chinese
112 | characters which could be loosely interpreted as "Who loves
113 | ya, baby?"
114 |
115 | We packed our hot, sweaty bodies around two large, round
116 | tables and had the first of many sumptuous Chinese lunches
117 | and dinners. I quickly relearned my chopstick skills and
118 | was soon snatching items onto my plate as the dishes rolled
119 | by on the center lazy susan.
120 |
121 | After lunch and a short bus ride to the suburbs we found
122 | ourselves wandering around through the extensive grounds of
123 | the Summer Palace, used by several of the last emperors.
124 | There were many buildings, statues, and gardens along with
125 | a huge lake, which we learned, was dug out by several
126 | thousand peasants. The highlight of hot, crowded afternoon
127 | was when tall Brad (6’ 8”) waded into a large group of
128 | grade school kids on a field trip and let them all pose for
129 | pictures with the giant American.
130 |
131 | We arrive back at the hotel just in time for a quick shower
132 | before reassembling in the lobby for a trip to a downtown
133 | restaurant and a Peking Duck dinner. Dinner was followed
134 | by a request for a special stop on the way back to the
135 | hotel. Jon Jin went to bat for us with the bus driver, and
136 | we all got to buy T-shirts at the Hard Rock Café of
137 | Beijing.
138 |
139 | Next…..The Great Wall
140 | I
141 |
142 |
143 |
144 |
145 |
146 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/_posts/2002-10-10-romantic-prague.md:
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1 | ---
2 | title: Romantic Prague
3 | creation_date: '2002-10-10'
4 | image: camera.gif
5 | author: Danny Spitler (dispitler)
6 | layout: post
7 | ---
8 |
9 | ### Written by: Danny Spitler (dispitler)
10 |
11 | I have been anxious to return to Prague and share it with
12 | Pam ever since my first trip to this beautiful city in
13 | September of 1999. Through an internet web site I had
14 | managed to reserve a room in a small hotel just off the Old
15 | Town Square in the heart of the city.
16 |
17 | I had hoped to be able to get to the hotel from the train
18 | station using the subway system and my two-year-old memory
19 | of the streets of Prague. I found the right subway stop,
20 | but took a wrong turn on one of the streets and discovered
21 | that I was lost. Czech taxi drivers can be pretty
22 | mercenary to tourists, but we were tired from our all night
23 | train ride and ready to unpack, so I hailed a cab and
24 | showed him the address to the hotel, which I was certain
25 | was only a few blocks away. Sure enough, he took us on
26 | creative route, and managed to run up ten dollars on the
27 | meter. I am sure that a direct route would have costs us
28 | half that much.
29 |
30 | The hotel turned out to be charming. It had only been
31 | completed for about six months although it was housed in a
32 | building that dated from the 14th century. Our room was on
33 | the third floor, which had a nice view, but there was no
34 | elevator so we got to know the stairway pretty well over
35 | the next three days. I took Pam by the hand and led her
36 | downstairs and around the corner to show her the most
37 | beautiful town square that I have found in all my travels.
38 | She took a slow 360-degree turn and agreed with my
39 | assessment.
40 |
41 | Upon returning to the hotel I made arrangements for a cab
42 | ride to the Grand Palace. I had the hotel negotiate a set
43 | rate for the short trip across the Vltava River and up the
44 | hill to the entrance of this extensive palace whose first
45 | buildings date back to the 10th century. For the next few
46 | hours we toured through the ancient St. George Basilica and
47 | the Vladislav Assembly Hall where riders on horseback had
48 | ridden into the hall during mid-evil days and where many
49 | historic events in Czech history had taken place. We also
50 | visited the enormous St. Vitus Cathedral, which is one of
51 | the most impressive cathedrals in all of Europe. The 325
52 | steps to the top of the cathedral were tempting, but I had
53 | made that climb two years earlier and we had a long day of
54 | walking yet ahead of us.
55 |
56 | At the walls of the palace you can get a fantastic overview
57 | of the whole city of Prague and there were several members
58 | of a tour group standing at the wall with us and looking
59 | out at the beautiful view. There was also three fairly
60 | well dressed, middle-aged women circulating near all the
61 | tourists. The group's tour guide called for everyone's
62 | attention by announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have
63 | your attention. Please notice the three ladies standing
64 | here," and he pointed to the three middle-aged
65 | ladies. "These are gypsies," he announced matter-of-
66 | factly, "and they are here to rob you." He then switched
67 | to the Czech language and angrily told the three gypsy
68 | ladies to get away from his tour group. They moved away
69 | giving the tour director looks that could kill and a couple
70 | of hand gestures that most anyone could have interpreted.
71 | Most tour books warn that Prague has some of the most
72 | talented pickpockets in all of Europe.
73 |
74 | We wandered along a narrow street near the back of the
75 | Palace complex called the Golden Lane. It got its name
76 | from the period when goldsmiths used to do their work in
77 | the area, but for some reason, the apartments where they
78 | worked and lived were very small. Later the little rooms
79 | were used as soldiers' barracks. Now they are filled with
80 | retail shops, but I think that anyone over 5' 7" would have
81 | a difficult time as a clerk.
82 |
83 | After leaving the palace we walked through a section of
84 | town called the Lesser Quarter and visited the very ornate
85 | St. Nichols cathedral with its distinctive turquoise dome.
86 | Then we worked our way slowly back toward the Vltava River
87 | for a walk across the famous, old Charles Bridge. The
88 | bridge was built in the 12th century. It is lined with
89 | large statues and there are large mid-evil towers on both
90 | sides of the bridge. It is used only for pedestrian
91 | traffic and, with the Grand Palace and St. Nichols
92 | Cathedral on one side and a view of some of Prague's famous
93 | buildings on the other side, it is certainly one of the
94 | most beautiful and romantic bridges anywhere in the world.
95 | There are usually several artists painting and selling
96 | their wares along the bridge as well as one or two
97 | musicians playing romantic songs in exchange of tips. Like
98 | the Old Town Square the Charles Bridge is a point in the
99 | city that keeps drawing you back. Before our weekend was
100 | over we took many walks across the Charles Bridge, holding
101 | hands and relishing the experience.
102 |
103 | After crossing the bridge our route back to the square took
104 | us through a narrow pedestrian walkway lined with shops. I
105 | remembered that this was the area where I had purchased a
106 | gift for Pam on my visit two and half years earlier. As we
107 | passed the tiny jewelry shop I recognized it immediately.
108 | I also remembered that I had dealt with a very nice female
109 | sales clerk who spoke good English. I asked the girl
110 | behind the counter how long she had worked there and she
111 | said she had been there for at least three years so I was
112 | sure that she was the same one. My purchase back in 1999
113 | had been a gold bracelet filled with red garnet stones.
114 | Pam quickly found a pair of red garnet earrings to give to
115 | her mother, and after some looking we were able to find a
116 | pair of earrings for Pam that just happen to be a perfect
117 | match for her bracelet. My purchase pleased both Pam and
118 | the sales clerk, which just goes to show that on rare
119 | occasions I can make two women happy at the same time.
120 |
121 | We opted for dinner in the small restaurant on the ground
122 | floor of our hotel and ordered some traditional Czech
123 | dishes, which were tasty and filling. By the time we
124 | finished dinner and made the climb to the third floor to
125 | deposit our purchases it was dark and time to walk back to
126 | the Charles Bridge for a night view. On one side of the
127 | bridge you can look up to the Grand Palace and the spires
128 | of St. Vitus Cathedral which are bathed in spotlights. The
129 | dome of St. Nichols is also brightly illuminated. Looking
130 | back to the other side is Prague's city center with its
131 | brightly lit 17th century symphony building, the National
132 | Theater building, and the domes of numerous old
133 | cathedrals. The bright city lights reflect off the waters
134 | of the river below. There are boats cruising the river
135 | with strings of white lights lining their decks. There are
136 | pleasant scents of good food wafting up from the sidewalk
137 | cafes, and usually a street musician playing soft music on
138 | a violin. If you have the tiniest bit of romance in your
139 | soul it will certainly bubble to the surface as you stroll
140 | along the Charles Bridge in the beautiful city of
141 | Prague.
142 |
143 |
144 |
145 |
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1 | body {
2 | color: #000000;
3 | background-color: #CCCC99;
4 | }
5 |
6 | a {
7 | color: #603;
8 | }
9 |
10 | .jumbotron {
11 | background-color: #FFFFCC;
12 | }
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1 | ---
2 | layout: default
3 | ---
4 |
5 |
6 | {% for post in site.posts %}
7 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/run.rb:
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1 | #!/usr/bin/env ruby
2 |
3 | require './scraper'
4 |
5 | scraper = Scraper.new()
6 | scraper.run()
7 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/scraper.rb:
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1 | require 'mechanize'
2 | require 'vcr'
3 | require 'yaml'
4 | require 'fileutils'
5 |
6 | VCR.configure do |c|
7 | c.cassette_library_dir = 'cached'
8 | c.hook_into :webmock
9 | end
10 |
11 | class Scraper
12 |
13 | attr_accessor :root
14 | attr_accessor :agent
15 | attr_accessor :pages
16 |
17 | def initialize
18 | @root = "http://web.archive.org/web/20030820233527/http://bytravelers.com/journal/entry/"
19 | @agent = Mechanize.new
20 | @pages = []
21 | end
22 |
23 | def scrape
24 | 100.times do |i|
25 | begin
26 | VCR.use_cassette("bt_#{i}") do
27 | url = "#{@root}#{i}"
28 | @agent.get( url ) do |page|
29 | if page.title.eql? "Read Journal Entries"
30 | pages << page
31 | end
32 | end
33 | end
34 | rescue Exception => e
35 | STDERR.puts "Unable to scrape this file (#{i})"
36 | end
37 | end
38 | end
39 |
40 | def process_title( row )
41 | row.strip.gsub( /"/, '' ) if row
42 | end
43 |
44 | def process_body( row )
45 | full = row.text()
46 | all_ps = ( row / "p" )
47 | first = full.gsub( all_ps.text(), '' )
48 | first.strip!
49 | body = first + "\n\n"
50 | all_ps.each do |p|
51 | body += p.text().strip() + "\n\n"
52 | end
53 | body
54 | end
55 |
56 | def get_filename( title, date )
57 | processed_date = DateTime.parse( date )
58 | processed_title = title.downcase.gsub( /[^a-z]+/, '-' )
59 | "#{processed_date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}-#{processed_title}.md"
60 | end
61 |
62 | def write( rendered, processed )
63 | Dir.mkdir( "_posts" ) unless File.exists?( "_posts" )
64 | filename = get_filename( processed['title'], processed['creation_date'] )
65 | File.open( "_posts/#{filename}", "w+" ) do |f|
66 | f.write rendered
67 | end
68 | end
69 |
70 | def process_creation_date( date )
71 | tuple = date.split( /last updated on:/ )
72 | rv = tuple[1].strip if tuple and tuple.length > 1
73 | rv
74 | end
75 |
76 | def render( processed )
77 | processed['layout'] = 'post'
78 | filtered = processed.reject{ |k,v| k.eql?('body') }
79 | rendered = "#{filtered.to_yaml}---\n\n" +
80 | "### Written by: #{processed['author']}\n\n" +
81 | processed['body']
82 | rendered
83 | end
84 |
85 | def process_image( title )
86 | img = ( title / "img" )
87 | src = img.attr('src').text()
88 | filename = src.split( "/" ).pop
89 |
90 | output = "assets/images/"
91 | FileUtils.mkdir_p output unless File.exists? output
92 | full = File.join( output, filename )
93 |
94 | if not File.exists? full or not File.size? full
95 | root = "https://web.archive.org"
96 | remote = root + src
97 | # puts "Downloading #{full} from #{remote}"
98 | `curl -L #{remote} -o #{full}`
99 | end
100 |
101 | filename
102 | end
103 |
104 | def get_rows( page )
105 | page / "table[valign=top] tr"
106 | end
107 |
108 | def run
109 | scrape()
110 | @pages.each do |page|
111 | rows = get_rows( page )
112 | processed = {}
113 | processed['title'] = process_title( rows[0].text() )
114 | processed['creation_date'] = process_creation_date( rows[3].text() )
115 | processed['body'] = process_body( rows[4] )
116 | processed['image'] = process_image( rows[0] )
117 | author_text = ( rows[2] / "td font" )[0].text()
118 | processed['author'] = $1.strip if author_text =~ /author:\s+\n\n+(.+)\n\n+/
119 | rendered = render( processed )
120 | write( rendered, processed )
121 | end
122 | end
123 |
124 | end
125 |
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/chapter-6-ruby-and-jekyll/scraper_spec.rb:
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1 | require './scraper'
2 |
3 | describe "#run" do
4 | before :each do
5 | @scraper = Scraper.new
6 | end
7 |
8 | describe "#process_titles" do
9 | it "should correct titles with double quotes" do
10 | str = ' something " with a double quote'
11 | expect( @scraper.process_title( str ) ).to_not match( /"/ )
12 | end
13 |
14 | it "should strip whitespace from titles" do
15 | str = '\n\n something between newlines \n\n'
16 | expect( @scraper.process_title( str ) ).to_not match( /^\n\n/ )
17 | end
18 |
19 | it "should not crash if the title is nil" do
20 | expect{ @scraper.process_title( nil ) }.to_not raise_error()
21 | end
22 | end
23 |
24 | describe "#body" do
25 | before( :each ) do
26 | @scraper.scrape()
27 | end
28 |
29 | it "should have a body with Brazil in it" do
30 | found = false
31 | @scraper.pages.each do |p|
32 | rows = @scraper.get_rows( p )
33 | # puts "Body: #{rows[4].text()}"
34 | found = true if rows[4].text() =~ /salvador/i
35 | end
36 | expect( found ).to eq( true )
37 | end
38 | end
39 |
40 | describe "#get_filename" do
41 | it "should take 'Cuba - the good and bad' on January 12th, 2001 and get a proper filename" do
42 | input = 'Cuba - the good and bad'
43 | date = "January 12th, 2001"
44 | output = "2001-01-12-cuba-the-good-and-bad.md"
45 | expect( @scraper.get_filename( input, date ) ).to eq( output )
46 | end
47 |
48 | it "should `Mexico/Belize/Guatemala` and get a proper filename" do
49 | input = "Mexico/Belize/Guatemala"
50 | date = "2001-01-12"
51 | output = "2001-01-12-mexico-belize-guatemala.md"
52 | expect( @scraper.get_filename( input, date ) ).to eq( output )
53 | end
54 | end
55 | end
56 |
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/chapter-7-android-and-git-data/.gitignore:
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1 | .gradle
2 | /local.properties
3 | /.idea/workspace.xml
4 | /.idea/libraries
5 | .DS_Store
6 | /build
7 | /captures
8 | secrets.xml
9 |
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/chapter-7-android-and-git-data/.idea/.name:
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1 | GhRu2
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/chapter-7-android-and-git-data/.idea/compiler.xml:
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1 |
2 | {{ post.title }}
8 | 9 | {{ post.content | strip_html | truncatewords: 40 }} 10 | 11 | Posted on {{ post.date | date_to_string }} 12 | 13 | {% endfor %} 14 |
18 |
19 |
50 |
51 |
52 |
53 |
54 |
55 |
56 |
57 |
58 |
59 |
60 |
61 |
62 |
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/chapter-9-javascript-and-git-data/karma.config.js:
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1 | module.exports = function(config) {
2 | config.set({
3 | basePath: '',
4 | frameworks: ['jasmine'],
5 | files: [
6 | 'angular.js',
7 | 'fixtures-*.js',
8 | 'angular-mocks.js',
9 | 'firebase-mock.js',
10 | 'github.js',
11 | '*.js'
12 | ],
13 | reporters: ['progress'],
14 | port: 9876,
15 | colors: true,
16 | logLevel: config.LOG_INFO,
17 | autoWatch: true,
18 | browsers: ['Chrome'],
19 | captureTimeout: 60000,
20 | singleRun: false
21 | });
22 | };
23 |
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/chapter-9-javascript-and-git-data/node/github-local-login.js:
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1 | var express = require('express')
2 | , passport = require('passport')
3 | , util = require('util')
4 | , GitHubStrategy = require('passport-github').Strategy;
5 |
6 | var GITHUB_CLIENT_ID = process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
7 | var GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET = process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET;
8 |
9 | var authTokens = {};
10 |
11 | // Passport session setup.
12 | // To support persistent login sessions, Passport needs to be able to
13 | // serialize users into and deserialize users out of the session. Typically,
14 | // this will be as simple as storing the user ID when serializing, and finding
15 | // the user by ID when deserializing. However, since this example does not
16 | // have a database of user records, the complete GitHub profile is serialized
17 | // and deserialized.
18 | passport.serializeUser(function(user, done) {
19 | done(null, user);
20 | });
21 |
22 | passport.deserializeUser(function(obj, done) {
23 | done(null, obj);
24 | });
25 |
26 | // Use the GitHubStrategy within Passport.
27 | // Strategies in Passport require a `verify` function, which accept
28 | // credentials (in this case, an accessToken, refreshToken, and GitHub
29 | // profile), and invoke a callback with a user object.
30 | passport.use(new GitHubStrategy({
31 | clientID: GITHUB_CLIENT_ID,
32 | clientSecret: GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET,
33 | callbackURL: "http://localhost:3000/auth/github/callback"
34 | },
35 | function(accessToken, refreshToken, profile, done) {
36 | authTokens[profile.id] = accessToken;
37 | // asynchronous verification, for effect...
38 | //process.nextTick(function () {
39 |
40 | // To keep the example simple, the user's GitHub profile is returned to
41 | // represent the logged-in user. In a typical application, you would want
42 | // to associate the GitHub account with a user record in your database,
43 | // and return that user instead.
44 | return done(null, profile);
45 | //});
46 | }
47 | ));
48 |
49 | var app = express.createServer();
50 |
51 | // configure Express
52 | app.configure(function() {
53 | app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
54 | app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
55 | app.use(express.logger());
56 | app.use(express.cookieParser());
57 | app.use(express.bodyParser());
58 | app.use(express.methodOverride());
59 | app.use(express.session({ secret: 'keyboard cat' }));
60 | // Initialize Passport! Also use passport.session() middleware, to support
61 | // persistent login sessions (recommended).
62 | app.use(passport.initialize());
63 | app.use(passport.session());
64 | app.use(app.router);
65 | app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
66 | });
67 |
68 | app.get( '/token.js',
69 | function(req, res) {
70 | res.send( "var ctAuthToken = '" + req.session.token + "';" );
71 | }
72 | );
73 |
74 | app.get('/', function(req, res){
75 | res.render('index', { user: req.user });
76 | });
77 |
78 | app.get('/account', ensureAuthenticated, function(req, res){
79 | res.render('account', { user: req.user });
80 | });
81 |
82 | app.get('/login', function(req, res){
83 | res.render('login', { user: req.user });
84 | });
85 |
86 | // GET /auth/github
87 | // Use passport.authenticate() as route middleware to authenticate the
88 | // request. The first step in GitHub authentication will involve redirecting
89 | // the user to github.com. After authorization, GitHubwill redirect the user
90 | // back to this application at /auth/github/callback
91 | app.get('/auth/github',
92 | passport.authenticate('github'),
93 | function(req, res){
94 | // The request will be redirected to GitHub for authentication, so this
95 | // function will not be called.
96 | });
97 |
98 | // GET /auth/github/callback
99 | // Use passport.authenticate() as route middleware to authenticate the
100 | // request. If authentication fails, the user will be redirected back to the
101 | // login page. Otherwise, the primary route function function will be called,
102 | // which, in this example, will redirect the user to the home page.
103 | app.get('/auth/github/callback',
104 | passport.authenticate('github', { failureRedirect: '/login' }),
105 | function(req, res) {
106 | console.log( "auth token here: ", authTokens[req.user.id] );
107 | req.session.token = authTokens[req.user.id];
108 | res.redirect('/');
109 | });
110 |
111 | app.get('/logout', function(req, res){
112 | req.logout();
113 | res.redirect('/');
114 | });
115 |
116 | app.listen(3000);
117 |
118 |
119 | // Simple route middleware to ensure user is authenticated.
120 | // Use this route middleware on any resource that needs to be protected. If
121 | // the request is authenticated (typically via a persistent login session),
122 | // the request will proceed. Otherwise, the user will be redirected to the
123 | // login page.
124 | function ensureAuthenticated(req, res, next) {
125 | if (req.isAuthenticated()) { return next(); }
126 | res.redirect('/login')
127 | }
128 |
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/chapter-9-javascript-and-git-data/package.json:
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1 | {
2 | "name": "coffeetech",
3 | "description": "karma testing for coffeetech",
4 | "version": "0.0.1",
5 | "homepage": "http://spa.coffeete.ch",
6 | "repository": {
7 | "type": "git",
8 | "url": "git://github.com/xrd/building-tools-with-github.git"
9 | },
10 | "author": "Chris Dawson CoffeeTe.ch
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |Current city: {{city.name}}
24 | 25 |
26 | {{waiting.msg}}
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 | Shop Name
Map Link
34 |
49 |
35 | {{ shop.name }}
36 |
37 |
44 |
38 |
39 | {{info}}
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
45 | Open in map ({{shop.latitude}},{{shop.longitude}})
46 |
47 |
48 |