I have two Ping-O-Matic related questions that I cannot find answers too. Maybe someone can help me find the answer to these two burning questions:

1. Why is Ping-O-Matic so popular for pinging the blog search engines?
2. Is anyone else bothered when they see that the blog at Ping-O-Matic has not been updated since April of 2006?

By no means am I saying anything bad about Ping-O-Matic. I just find it curious that Web applications such as Wordpress and Drupal by default point to Ping-O-Matic. Why not point your CMS to alternative ping services such as Pingoat or Blog Flux?

mojoPortal, got a nice write up on the CMS Report web site today:

"Big Thanks go out to Bryan Ruby for giving us some coverage! Anything that helps get the word out is a big help to the project."

Joe Audette [mojoPortal]

Does Drupal make the grade? The answer to that question evidently depends on who you ask. Last week, the Tech Republic posted a review by Justin James on the Drupal content management system. Mr. James concluded that "Overall, Drupal does not make the grade". This week the Drupal community is all a buzz over the decision for IBM's developerWorks to use Drupal for designing, developing, and deploying a collaborative Website.

A post by Nick Lewis, Drupal and XML: Looking Forward, caught my attention. In his post he discusses work on developing the CAP XML format (Common Alerting Protocol).

In preparation for my /Nick Lewis/ trip to Washington D.C. next month, I’ve begun to develop a module that integrates the CAP XML format (Common Alerting Protocol) with drupal’s node, location, google map, category, and CCK modules.

Put plainly, the CAP format seeks:

I don't care who you are. I don't care how much education or how little education you have. If your profession is in information technology (IT), you and I share the same exact thoughts, questions, and even dread toward this particular topic. The topic is user surveys.

For our Wordpress 2.0 sites, we have been using the Akismet plugin to fight off the spam thrown at us through our comment pages. We've been impressed with the results with over 550 spam filled comments blocked since early 2006 and only two spam comments slipping by Akismet's filters. With these impressive results, we have been hoping to see an Akismet Drupal module also developed. Now both Drupal and phpBB users have access to an Akismet module for their CMS.

Karen and I posted some new pictures in our photo album. These pictures are from Easter 2006 and the rest of Spring 2006. During that time we celebrated our fifth anniversary and made a trip to Kansas City. The night of our anniversary was spent dining at the Plaza and staying at a nearby hotel. Logan spent the time being entertained by his Grandparents and this was really our first time away from Logan as a couple.

Over the past few weeks, I put together Logan's new swing set. The "two to four hour" project took one full day and several evenings. Logan didn't seem to mind though...

Let me first say, I love Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Secondly, let me also say that by the time we hit the month of April, I and most others in this city, are just too darn tired of cold weather. We are ready for the warmer months that come with spring and summer. We are ready for the flowers to bloom, the brown lawns to turn green, the children to play outside, and the nice bicycle rides on the finest bicycle trails this city has to offer.

So no matter how much you tell me that it's a chance of a lifetime...I am not heading to the North Pole so I can freeze my toes off a little longer. Crazy people...

About 50 runners are scheduled to compete in this year's North Pole Marathon, covering 26.195 miles in circles on a large piece of floating ice near the top of the world.