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Stephen Pickering

Author: Stephen Pickering

  • How to Indent New Paragraphs and Line Breaks in TwentyEleven Theme.

    From Dashboard go down to appearance>Customize>Additional CSS, and within that box put:


    p {
text-indent: 2em;
margin: 0;
}

    Ok, I cheated a little bit. There’s apparently no CSS for automatically creating indentions for the <br> so instead, since there is code for the p tag, what I did was search for code to eliminate the gap between Paragraphs.

    I’m realizing now that this solution might not be optimal. Strike that. It’s not. Because when you are using the visual editor within WordPress its discombobulating and seems to screw up finding the + for creating a new paragraph.

    But the code for the P is a gem. So for now just do it like so:


    p {
  text-indent: 2em;
 }

    This will automatically indent all your new paragraphs, but not line breaks. Still it’s a great start and relief if you are using Twentyeleven and the lack of indention drives you crazy. I’ll keep searching for that other answer though. The above code is totally taken from this post on Lifewire.com. Give them all the credit.

    It’s also cool to know that there is a sort of “in-built” on the fly version of child themes with Appearance>>Customize. Or at least I’m assuming it is. I would hate to think that if there was an update to Twentyeleven for example that those customizations would disappear. But at this point nothing would surprise me.

  • Chuck Berry’s Influences

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdnFsSiUFjk

    Came across this video tonight. Wasn’t going to click it—you know how it is with Youtube, after the algorithm gets to know you, everything that pops up is interesting, but you just don’t have enough time. Why did I finally decide to click it? I noticed the date. Nov. 4th, 1987, and I realized that was just a few days after one of the most epic nights of my life, playing a Halloween gig in my junior year at SMU for a big frat party down in Deep Ellum, and everything going so magically, fairy-tale like well. It was one of those nights, especially for a relative loser like me when you go “Finally my life has begun!” Well, again, enough about me. I’ll write more about it in blog posts, and there’s a big chunk of it in my novel (albeit with an avatar character) which I’ll publish pretty soon.
    Instead let’s talk about Chuck Berry on Johnny Carson, two people I couldn’t think more of. I’ll write more about his music in the future, but what strikes me right off the bat is something just like Dylan, it’s the subtleties, the almost unnoticed accents and rhythmic “pulls and pushes” that are undefinable on a staff sheet, but that give this music, Rock and Roll itself, its life, its soul.
    Also, I was thinking about Keith Richards whom I remembered made a fantastic concert movie the year before with Chuck, but which contained such confrontation between the two as to make you cringe. But during this performance you can see how Keith got his notorious “leg kick” as well as the signature holding the guitar almost vertically which is such an iconic pose. I can see why anyone, especially Keith, would idolize this man, and I really enjoyed him mentioning his influences, including Charlie Christian, whom I was aware of vaguely, but now allows me a deeper dive. Here’s the video with Carson, whom I love and so do every comedian. What a treat!

  • Great Places to Eat in Arkansas

    Great Places to Eat in Arkansas

    1. I saw a Facebook friend of mine post that he was at Taylor’s steakhouse. I’d never heard of it, so I figured he was in another state. Nope. He was in Dumas. Everybody in the comments was raving about the place. Ever since I got back from Charleston, Little Rock has seemed like a Wasteland at least in the eating department. Of course, nothing compares to Charleston, but it would help if I’d get outside the city limits every once in a while. This is a gorgeous state, but I probably know less about it and have seen less of it outside of Little Rock than someone living half way ’round the world.
      Of course, when I clicked on Taylor’s facebook page, they don’t even list there address, much less have a website, and of course they’re closed this Saturday because their daughter is graduating from grad school. That’s par for the course when it comes to a real rural restaurant, but it’s also a pretty good sign that when they are open they really get into what they do. Also, the fact they didn’t have their own website was actually an upside surprise for me because what they did link to was a website of a “gal” as we like to say who specializes in discovering new great little gems of restaurants all around the natural state. Her name is Kat Robinson. The name alone has me closed as a fan. Expect me to do some traveling in the Natural state exploring her finds. Who knows, maybe I can bring my guitar and find a place that’ll let me sing my ditties as well.

    2. [Update 8/14/20] Another Foodie friend of mine posted this tonight with the caption: “THE BEST Charcuterie In LR.” The Restaurant is Sonny William’s Steakhouse in the Rivermarket district. Here’s the photo she posted:

  • A Generation X Woodstock View

    A Generation X Woodstock View

    As a teen I romanticized it. Now, I realize that’s the same as mythologizing something. Of course the reality of the experience was anything but. Unless you were having a good trip, as it were. As a young teen in the early eighties, maybe from my older sister’s record collection, I was into CSNY, Dylan, Clapton, Beatles, Stones, etc. This was odd for 1983 I suppose. Even though MTV fascinated me in and of itself, I always “hate-watched” the content thinking it was so superficial compared to my beloved 60’s.
    But enough about my thoughts on this now. I’ll add to them later including a whole chapter from my novel “The Horizon’s Blue Chance” which is all about a re-enactment of Woodstock at a college party in 1988. (the Chapter that is, not the whole novel. It’s the next to last one in the book, so it serves a prominent purpose to the story as a whole, at least psychologically and spiritually, a sort of “belly of the whale” experience.”)
    I saw an article in today’s New York Times entitled “Woodstock Was the Birthplace of Festival Fashion” and like so much of my blog I just wanted to create a repository for media concerning topics I’m interested in.

  • My New Single Has Dropped

    My New Single Has Dropped

    On all the major and minor streamers. Distrokid is a godsend. God bless you Philip Kaplan!
    It’s called “It’s Nowhere.” I hope you’ll give it a listen, and let me know what you think!

    Here’s the best link. It’s the Distrokid Hyperfollow Page that has links to all the major services. Am I crazy about this song? Not at the moment. I’ve listened to it so many times over the last few days, I just need a few weeks away from it for sure. Mostly when it comes out on these services you’re trying to see does it hold up at least sonically with other things you like.

    I’d say on the whole it does. Like 85% of the time. So that makes me feel good and hopeful about my own mixing and mastering, and the potential of the tools going forward.

    I’ll write more about this song later when I’m not so exhausted with it. Hopefully I’ll go on tour and play it live too—for you! For now, here’s a youtube link to the song, that anyone can listen to, even if they aren’t a subscriber to one of the streamers.

  • Retiring Abroad Cheaply

    This article on CNBC.com caught my notice mainly because I love the beach and travel but also I’m 52 and need to be thinking ahead about what my finances are going to be in the next 10-20 years.
    I hate to use the word “Cheap” because I am a big believer in the Law of Attraction and also I still have some years left of creativity and potential, but also I have to be realistic. I do think retiring on 30K per year is still my worse case scenario, but as each year passes and none of my ventures come to anything materially, I have to face the fact that it is incrementally at least, that much more likely. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/five-places-abroad-where-you-can-retire-on-just-30000-a-year.html

    Here’s another cool retirement idea. I don’t know if it’s for me, but it sure is interesting. You Can Buy a 2.4 million Apartment on a cruise ship. Take a Look.