One site I help manage uses WordPress and an image gallery plugin by Huge-It. Following a recent WordPress update, the gallery’s admin side has stopped allowing the admin to add images to a gallery. There’s a button, you click it, and nothing happens.

There is no obvious issue, until you look at the Javascript console and see the following error message: this._addClass is not a function. A quick web search confirms that this is likely either a conflict in Javascript libraries included by various plugins, or a jQuery version conflict.

The quick and dirty solution is to edit wp-content/plugins/gallery-and-caption/includes/admin/class-photo-gallery-wp-admin-functions.php and add the following lines:

function custom_admin_js() {
echo '"<script type="text/javascript" src="https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.12.1/jquery-ui.js"></script>"';
}
add_action('admin_footer', 'custom_admin_js');

This basically forces the plugin to use a compatible version of jQuery so it’ll work again.

Hooray! The forces of entropy are held in check for another brief moment.

Old driveway demo is done. Some drainage pies fell victim to the concrete saws, so those got redone. Now the great leveling has begun.

The slope at each point is designed to keep water away from foundations, and direct runoff into the garden where possible. There will be permeable sections as well.

It’s been a while since there was an ADU update. Here’s one. The final inspection passed, but there was some tsuris about the gutter drain and how it gets ducted into the street. The City mandated that it went via a popup over the driveway rather than directly into the street. Why they want that rather than into the sewers, I’m not sure. They specifically rule pout flowing it into the garden, which is what I’d have done if given my druthers.

Anyway, so that got fixed. Meanwhile, the driveway demolition has been proceeding. The new, permeable driveway will be put in soon.

Hm. Looks like the server upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS to Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS changed some character encoding defaults somewhere. I’ll have to track down if it’s in the database (most likely), the database connection (possible), PHP, or somewhere else.

In the mean time, please forgive the occasional bad unicode character.

English is a weird language. Insects, have two things called “antenna” sticking out of their heads and the plural is “antennae.” A radio tower, which is an antenna, is pluralized “antennas.”

Anyway, according to Los Angeles County, California – Code of Ordinances Title 22 – Planning and Zoning Division 7, section 22.140.040 – Amateur Radio Antennas, pending a Ministerial Site Plan Review, we could set up our antenna for 75 ft tower/mast, just so long as it is lowered to 35 ft total height when not in use. There are also rules preventing towers from being on the “street side” of the house, or in the front 40% of the lot. Some of these rules have carve-outs for civil defense or emergency responder applications, as well as for proximity to power lines, which could be relevant with the poles along the back of our lot.

Companies like HyGain make a great “crank-up” towers that are suitable for residential like this example setup for 14 MHz, 21 MHz, and 28 MHz HF operation. Likewise, the Aluma T-75HN extends to 75 feet but cranks down to 25 ft when not in use.

In the event of major disasters, having short-wave communication capability could be vital in helping coordinate rescue and incident operations (obviously, having backup power for the system is going to be an important component too).

A wide-angle lens adds distortion that makes it hard to pre-visualize, but here’s a possible perspective view. Specific antenna details would vary depending on the bands we opt to use.