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1. Just updated to WordPress 2.5. (See a screencast here.)
2. I waited one week before upgrading, so as to take the time to monitor the WP 2.5 compatibility with our plugins.
3. To upgrade, I used the &#8220-Wordpress Automatic Upgrade&#8221- plugin. The automatic process failed, but the step-by-step process worked fine. Overall, I&#8217-m happy. This plugin is a time saver.
4. WordPress 2.5.1 is due for May 2008. In the meantime, if you spot some gremlins, let me know.
5. Speaking of gremlins, WP 2.5 has now a better compatibility with Safari, so maybe Tom W. Bell will come down here to tell us what he thinks of the new US anti-gambling regulations.
6. The Midas Oracle post/page authors will spot a totally reconfigured &#8220-Write Post / Page&#8221- area.
7. They have added a bunch of &#8220-media buttons&#8221- (to insert pictures, sounds, videos, etc.) and an &#8220-embedded media&#8221- button (which you&#8217-ll find if you click first on the &#8220-Kitchen Sink&#8221-). I have yet to fully experiment all that.
8. There is now a &#8220-full screen mode&#8221- for the writing area.
9. They have hidden the 2 blockquotes button under the &#8220-Kitchen Sink&#8221- sub-menu.

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UPDATE: Gartner is out today saying that open-source software will take over the free world, eventually &#8212-and that includes Chapman University and Tom W. Bell&#8230-

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Matt Mullenweg

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Previous blog posts by Chris F. Masse:

• Problem 17: Prediction Markets — USMA D/Math Problem of the Week — Submission Deadline: April 3, 2008 at 1600
• Would be fun to have the equivalent for event derivatives.
• “We’ll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow.” “Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals,” said Turner, 69. “Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state —like Somalia or Sudan— and living conditions will be intolerable.”
• QUESTION TO THE READERS: Could anyone guess what Nassim Nicholas Taleb would think of the prediction markets?
• YouTube Videos on Prediction Markets