Electoral Vote Predictor button thingy

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:26 pm

Some of you may have noticed the new button in my signature. In case you were too lazy to click on it, it's a live tally from the Electoral Vote Predictor.

I just spent half the morning hacking it out of PHP, 'cause it was more fun than work. I made it because the one available on the site is a little too big. It's not perfect, and needs some optimization, but I wanted to share it if anybody here wanted to display it in their sig or on their web site.

Display it in your sig with the following BBCode:

Code:

[url=http://www.electoral-vote.com/][img]http://s92219381.onlinehome.us/ev_button/ev_button.php[/img][/url]

Or on your web site like so:

Code:

<a href="http://www.electoral-vote.com/" title="Electoral Vote Predictor 2004"><img src="http://s92219381.onlinehome.us/ev_button/ev_button.php" alt="Electoral Vote Predictor Button" style="border: none;"/></a>

If you decide to use it on your web site or elsewhere, please post a reply in this thread to that effect, just so I know what's going on.

Note: The location of the image might change at some point. I don't anticipate this happening, but it might, since it's on a free(ish) host and we all know what those are like. If it does, you'll see the image replaced by something else (maybe a "MOVED" message), in which case you should come back here to get the URL.

ThatGoblin · **Posted:** Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:29 pm

I put it on my sig because it will make me look cool! Just kidding, It's kinda cool though! :goblin:

ClingingMars · **Posted:** Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:46 pm

I like it. I'd like to put in in my sig in a couple forums...

-Mars

DarkeX · **Joined:** Sun Aug 08, 2004 8:39 pm **Posts:** 3

Looks pretty cool.

Didymus · **Posted:** Sun Aug 08, 2004 9:15 pm

Hey, that anteater thing is showing your IP address and your ISP to the whole world. You might want to fix that so the hackers won't get ya.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Sun Aug 08, 2004 9:39 pm

Didymus wrote:

Hey, that anteater thing is showing your IP address and your ISP to the whole world. You might want to fix that so the hackers won't get ya.

Um, actually, Didymus, it's showing your IP. Or rather, the IP of whoever views it. Right now, on my screen, it's showing my IP.

Which is perhaps the lamest trick in the world. Like those web sites that used to try to convince you that they were reading the files from your hard drive by opening file:///C| in a frame.

ThatGoblin · **Posted:** Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:03 am

That thing is freaking me out! :eek:

furrykef · **Posted:** Mon Aug 09, 2004 7:48 pm

It's usually not hard to get the IP or DNS of somebody you wanna nail anyway. Lots of places have that information right out in the open.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:22 pm

For example, I could tell you kef's IP right..... now!

But I won't. :mrgreen:

Stu · **Posted:** Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:03 am

InterruptorJones wrote:

For example, I could tell you kef's IP right..... now!

But I won't. :mrgreen:

How about yours jonesy.

216.239.57.104

Didymus · **Posted:** Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:09 am

Hey, Stu. You shouldn't post IJ's IP like that. I mean someone who wanted to get their hands on his por :eek:

...I mean, uh, hack into his system and violate his privacy...would have easy access to do so.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:16 am

Didymus wrote:

I mean someone who wanted to get their hands on his por :eek:

Por what? Por, por.. ACK!! Not my porridge! *hides the porridge*

Stu · **Posted:** Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:16 am

If you can hack his system (with that address mind you)... I will personally paypal you 20 bucks.

Didymus · **Posted:** Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:42 am

InterruptorJones wrote:

Por what? Por, por.. ACK!! Not my porridge! *hides the porridge*

Dag! I really wanted that porridge!

fahooglewitz1077 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 11, 2004 1:58 am

I appointed myself one...
The thing's awesome...

JoeyDay · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:46 am

Jones, is there any way I could get the source and the sprites you're using? I'd like to customize it to match the other buttons at the bottom of my site. Thanks in advance for your help.

Have you shown your button to the guy who runs the site? It sounds as if all his other buttons have been donated by people just like you. I'll bet there are many others who would like a small icon for their sites, as well.

Buz · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:00 am

The owner of the site, self-designated "votemaster" probably has good intentions, but his bias is as clear as everyone else's. I wrote him this email:

Quote:

Votemaster--

You have a page dedicated to Mr. Bush's record. Will you be adding a page on Senator Kerry's record? I'd like to see that.

--N. Buzdor, Forked Lightning

His response was:

Quote:

He's voted about 6000 times. It would be a long page. I might
look for the parts I think are most important, such as his long
environmental record over 20 years or his support for abortion.
But I have to find it some place.
=====
-- The votemaster

Of course, his POV shouldn't affect the integrity of his numeric research any more than the companies making the new electronic voting booth machines.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:14 pm

Joey, I'll zip the files sometime today and send them to you.

Buz, to my knowledge the Votemaster never claimed to be impartial and pretty much every post (not to mention the Welcome page = "I am a Kerry supporter") he makes has at least a hint of his leanings. But here's what he said about it on the 21st:

Votemaster wrote:

There is an amusing article about election websites in the Philadelphia Daily News. The reporter was a bit surprised that this site and a highly pro-Bush site, http://www.electionprojection.com have almost the same score. After all, telling the truth is so passé these days.

At least he doesn't pretend to unbiased like certain other journalists. And anyway, he does have a page on both Kerry and Bush's records, in case you missed that. I won't say it's completely unbiased (nor do I think he would), but it's there.

Buz · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:47 pm

InterruptorJones wrote:

Buz, to my knowledge the Votemaster never claimed to be impartial

Yes, I know. I am beginning to wonder if there is such a thing! Perhaps all knowledge has "spin" on it just as much as elementary physical particles do... and political knowledge is like fermions. Of course, fermions don't have to abide by the Pauli exclusion principle, so a person can actually hold conflicting political opinions simultaneously. My physics teacher would either love that I know this, or hate how I abuse the knowledge... depending on his spin.

InterruptorJones wrote:

After all, telling the truth is so passé these days.

Sigh. I remember telling a close friend something to the effect of, "Never, under any circumstances, ever lie." He said he couldn't do that.

InterruptorJones wrote:

...both Kerry and Bush's records, in case you missed that. ...

It wasn't there last time I visited (a few weeks). Thanks for the update!

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:57 pm

Alright, if you want the source, follow this link: ev_button.zip. There's some notes included. Use at your own risk.

JoeyDay · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:39 pm

Gracias.

JoeyDay · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:35 pm

Jones, I hate to bug you with this thing. I realize you never signed up to support it. I've made all the changes that I wanted to make, but it's not displaying at all now.

Basically, there are three things (I think) that could be going wrong:

1. How can I check to make sure I have the "domxml" extension? Is there a good chance it's installed, or no? (I'm positive that GD is there.)

2. I edited the font image a bit in Photoshop 7 (I didn't change the size of any of the characters, so I'm assuming it should still work with the code as-is). I saved it as a non-interlaced PNG, but I've heard Photoshop 7 is a little buggy with PNGs. Is there a possibility I've corrupted the file?

3. When you say, "make sure PHP has permission to write to [the PNG image]," what do you mean? I've set the permissions on the file to 777 and it's still not working.

Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:42 pm

JoeyDay wrote:

1. How can I check to make sure I have the "domxml" extension? Is there a good chance it's installed, or no?

The easiest way is to make a file that looks like this:

Code:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

And run it (that is, open it in your browser). If it lists domxml, then it's installed. If not.. well, you know the rest.

Quote:

2. I edited the font image a bit in Photoshop 7. I saved it as a non-interlaced PNG, but I've heard Photoshop 7 is a little buggy with PNGs. Is there a possibility I've corrupted the file?

There's a possibility, but it seems unlikely to me. Try opening it in Firefox. If Firefox can read the PNG, GD ought to be able to.

Quote:

3. When you say, "make sure PHP has permission to write to [the PNG image]," what do you mean? I've set the permissions on the file to 777 and it's still not working.

That ought to be fine.

I'll ask you what I ask everybody on the PHP-Forum: are you getting any errors? If so, what are they? If all you're seeing is a broken image, then right-click on the image and do a View > Source. It's counter-intuitive, but it'll either show you the "source" of the image (ooh, pretty symbols) or any error messages.

My guess is that you don't have domxml, which would be a bummer.

JoeyDay · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:14 pm

Here's what I see when I try to load the image:

Code:

The image “http://www.joeyday.com/images/ev_button/ev_button.php” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Okay, I created the file you suggested. You can see it for yourself here.

It doesn't mention "domxml". Can I install it myself? I have shell access, but probably no real permissions.

Thanks for your help.

InterruptorJones · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:23 pm

JoeyDay wrote:

It doesn't mention "domxml". Can I install it myself? I have shell access, but probably no real permissions.

Probably not. On a Linux box you usually have to recompile PHP for new extensions. Maybe ask your host to install it the next time they upgrade their version of PHP?

Buz · **Posted:** Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:00 pm

JoeyDay wrote:

It doesn't mention "domxml". Can I install it myself? I have shell access, but probably no real permissions.

Joey Day--

You can run the script on my server if you want. It's got domxml etc. installed.

--Buz

woddfellow2 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:34 am

It will be on my Web site soon. It is already in my sig here.

Update: It is now on my Web site.

woddfellow2 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:21 pm

Stu wrote:

InterruptorJones wrote:

For example, I could tell you kef's IP right..... now!

But I won't. :mrgreen:

How about yours jonesy.

Didymus wrote:

Hey, Stu. You shouldn't post IJ's IP like that. I mean someone who wanted to get their hands on his por :eek:

...I mean, uh, hack into his system and violate his privacy...would have easy access to do so.

As for you, InterruptorJones, ask your ISP to refresh your DNS or something to become safe again.

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