42 Quirks

“Opinions are like a******s; everybody has one & they all stink.”

To add to the, (already disgusting) imagery: the ones that are closed harbor a lot more shit than the ones that aren’t.

Oulipo is the name of the theme that I am using. Oh, and while we’re at it, a slick, mobile theme has also been setup thanks to the wonderful WordPress Mobile Plugin & Carrington Mobile Theme by Crowd Favorite!
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Did you know that the family name Joshi finds its roots in the Hindi word ‘Josh’ meaning enthusiasm? Certainly explains all the jumping around I am known to do, eh?
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Why do all good ideas come to you the moment your head hits the pillow?

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This is how most conversations on the Internet (especially in the comments page of a most popular blogs/sites) eventually turn out:
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I did something stupid last night: I deleted this blog.

Yes. I DELETED it.

Last night, I was cleaning out my various test installs on my cPanel – you know, phpBB, BuddyPress, bbPress & a few of my own pathetic attempts at LAMP coding. While trying to delete one of those DBs, I accidentally deleted the MySQL DB that handles THIS blog. The worst part is I didn’t realize what I’d done until this morning when the blog showed a “500 Internal Server Error”.

My heart sank.

And then I remembered that I had installed the WP-DB-Backup plugin. I was taking daily backups & emailing it to myself! FTW! The rest of the process was pretty simple:

1. Create a new database with the same name as in your wp-config.php file.
2. Download the latest backup file from your email inbox.
3. Go to phpMyAdmin & import the latest backup file that you just downloaded.

That’s it. The blog is now ‘back up’ online! :)

In hindsight, it probably doesn’t seem like a big deal – but it would have been a HUGE deal had I not activated the WP-DB-Backup plugin in the first place. What would have happened if I hadn’t activated the plugin & didn’t have daily backups?

*shudder*

(Image: The Lonely Dustbin by Rajiv Ashrafi on Flickr.)

How many times have you had an idea that you were sure would shake the very foundation of an existing belief? And the, suddenly, something comes along that prompts you to say, “F**K! That was MY idea!”

Well, finders keepers, they say.

When I saw Chris Nolan‘s Inception, I cursed myself for being lazy enough to NOT post “Window” (part one, two & three) earlier. I’d chalked up the story, plotted the basics but never actually got around to writing it. And that’s how I lost the plot – literally & figuratively.

And that prompted me to work on another idea I’ve had for a while – the d.ustb.in.

What is the d.ustb.in? It’s an online short-fiction magazine where your short-stories will be featured for the world to read. However, unlike other magazines, we don’t ask for exclusive publishing rights. We want your story to be read by people far & wide – that means you can submit it to the others, come back & submit it to us, too! :)

The downside? We don’t charge, hence, we don’t pay. :(

The d.ustb.in is intended to be a platform for short-story lovers everywhere. The initial plan is to feature an anthology of short-fiction every week. Soon enough, we intend to publish it as a fortnightly or monthly magazine, featuring an anthology of submitted stories. Heck, we even hope to be able to pay our authors someday, soon! :)

Go ahead, submit your story, spread the word – feed the d.ustb.in! :)