A Post is a Category is a Story

Ever since March 2005 I have pumped out a total of approximately 1500 posts, which equates to 300 posts per year or an average of between 5 and 6 posts per week, grand total of over 500,000 words. Gives me sore fingers just thinking about it!

A post is a story is an article and each one must be associated with one or more categories – think of a category like a news topic, essentially a high level way of classifying the stories you write and publish. I have stuck to the single category per post approach and this works well for me. In addition to categories there are also tags and other “taxonomies” – I ‘m not going to dwell on the last two (tags and taxonomies) as I promised a few posts ago to knock off the nerdy stuff.

(See the bottom of this post for additional technical notes)

Some bloggers are able to establish a classification of their posts easily and up front – perhaps someone running a niche type blog would find this exercise straightforward. In my case the job of classifying what I write about is very much a moving target and has evolved over time alongside the nature of what ends up published. In addition I have gone through a couple of re-classifications and this by no means was or is a trivial task – especially when we are talking about hundreds or even thousands of posts.

Posts here at Trupela Tok have been categorised as per the list below. Note that if you click on a category icon you will be taken to a full list of corresponding posts.

Enough gobli-guke…

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  Best of News Feeds

  A News Aggregator or Newsreader reduces the time and effort needed to regularly check websites or blogs for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper." Once subscribed to a feed, an aggregator is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update. The content is sometimes described as being "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" with email or IM. What follows is a collection of some of my favourite stories that have come via my newsreader.
  
  
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  Bilas and Sports

  Papua New Guineans love their sport and are proud of their traditional bilas. Bilas: body decoration, finery or jewellery seen at the local Cultural Festivals. Sports: ranging from rugby, soccer, volleyball, kick-boxing, cricket, softball and athletics. In this category you will find a collection of stories related to PNG Cultural Shows, Festivals, Sporting Events and a great collection of photos.
  
  
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  Bric-a-Brac

  Bric-a-brac: a bit of this and/or a bit of that, nickknacks, curios, ornaments, stuff, junk, bits and pieces, jumble, sundry, bitsa, kainkain samtin, leftovers, scraps, odds and ends, stuff, bits and bobs, thing-a-ma-jig, doob-a-lacky, oddments, notions, sundries, curios, gewgaws, novelties, offcuts, bits, fragments, odds and sods, remnants, loose ends, miscellany.
  
  
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  Corkers

  A good Corker can easily trigger laughter. Laughter is an audible expression or appearance of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy (laughing on the inside). It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling, and other stimuli. Inhaling nitrous oxide can also induce laughter. Strong laughter can sometimes bring an onset of tears or even moderate muscular pain. Above all else laughter is contagious!
  
  
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  Donations in Kind

  I originally named this category "Wishlist" but it seemed to have to much of a connotation to the Amazon concept of a Wishlist... my Wishlist!! I once added a "Donate" button to this blog and removed it a couple of months later after not receiving one "Please give me". The wishes I share with you here are the wishes and needs of local Papua New Guineans (mainly kids). I continue with this section... because wishes do come true!
  
  
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  Geek Speak

  Geek speak is how the uninitiated refers to the jargon and special vocabulary used by those immersed in computers and other fields of information technology. Geek speak is usually something that someone else uses. As a person learns about computers, the terms they use become familiar and only the ones they haven't mastered yet continue to be geek speak.
  
  
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  Home Sweet Home

  Mi casa is su casa - a man's home is his castle - home sweet home - etc... Tales and yarns from the home front, friends, our pets: "Gelo" and "Manam" plus a description and photos of the places we have resided in.
  
  
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  Introspection

  From time to time we need to go within and find a point of reference - whether we find it or not is another matter. And those rare times when we are lucky enough to get a glimpse of truth - the experience leaves as fast as it arrived. Such is the human experience and by the way all roads do lead to Rome.
  
  
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  Liklik Toksave

  Liklik: small or trivial. Toksave: information, explanation or news. Here you will find a collection of local stories, current topics, Papua New Guinea news, happenings and general clippings. Although I do aim to share my views and opinions on "things" - I choose to stay clear of any stories that might disparage anyone person or institution.
  
  

• News & Opinions

  PNG Social commentary on Religion, Politics, Elections and other current issues.
  
  
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  Planti Stori long Ples

  PNG Ples or PNG Village is where that something "special" can still be found. With around 90% of Papua New Guineans still living "long ples" most locals remain true the rituals, traditions and customs of their ancestors. Having said that - change (so called progress) is hitting these rural folks at a rate of knots and not always for the best.
  
  
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  Rantings

  The rantings and ravings of this finely tuned lunatic in the form of poetry and verse. A quasi attempt to share with you insights into the indescribable. The truth will set you free but it will probably kick your arse first. Be my guest!
  
  
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  Rob-erbs

  Rob-erbs or Robert's Proverbs is a condensed or shortened version of my Rantings and is basically a collection of my own personal sayings, one-liners and food for thought. It doesn't take reams of paper to get a simple message across!
  
  
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  Technobabble

  Technobabble is a form of writing using jargon, acronyms and high falutin language to give an impression of knowing through mystification, misdirection, and confusion. Someone who doesn't understand a technical description might describe this style of writing as technobabble, but it also can describe prose intentionally made obscure through gratuitous technical terms and slang.
  
  
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  Toktok

  Toktok in Tok Pisin translates to conversation, have a yarn or chin-wag. I have aimed to include in this category/topic all stories, anecdotes and news articles about Papua New Guinea. Here you will find tales from the village, information and photos on cultural festivals and sporting events, PNG towns together with street and settlement life, PMV's and just about anything else from the Land of the Unexpected.
  
  
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  Towns, PMV's & Street life

  Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Madang. Wabeg or Mt Hagen - PNG towns all have the following in common: lots of people, markets, buai spet, more people, bus stops, pick-pocket-eers, settlements and street sellers. Allow me to share with you and give you an insight into PNG town culture that very few "whites" ever get to experience. By the way - PMV is the local term for a bus.
  
  
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  Volunteering

  The incredible adventure and experience of being a volunteer in Papua New Guinea. Forget about the fact that I have ended up as poor as a church mouse - the reward and fulfilment I have received from living and working amongst tribal people remains beyond words. For this person the opportunity to experience PNG and it's people is a dream come true.
  
  
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  Wordpress

  Wordpress is a blog publishing application and content management system. It was first released in May 2003 by its co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as the successor to b2/cafelog. It is powered by PHP and a SQL data backend. As of September 2009, Wordpress is used by 62.8 million websites in the US and 202 million websites worldwide.
  
  
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  Working for the man

  "Hey now you better listen to me everyone of you - We got a lotta lotta lotta lotta work to do - Forget about your woman and that water can - Today we're working for the man - well pick up your feet - we've got a deadline to meet - I'm gonna see you make it on time - Don't relax - I want elbows and backs - I wanna see everybody from behind - 'Cause your working for the man working for the man - you gotta make him a hand when you're working for the man"... (Roy Orbison)
  
  
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  Works in Progress

  Although most of us need to work - to generate an income - to be able to exist, not all sweat and toil needs to be rewarded financially. This category includes stories from the places that I have worked in PNG including the volunteering aspect. I also share - in this section - about the gifts given away to the locals (mainly kids) courtesy my immediate family and also some friends from Australia. There's of course the mandtory bric-a-brac - but you will have to work that one out for yourselves.
  
  

**** Technical Notes ****

• The above list was dynamically generated.
• Easy display of icons is possible thanks to the Category Icons plugin.
• A shortcode was embedded within this post to generate the list.
• The PHP code for the function invoked by the shortcode was borrowed from the Category Icons website.
• Display of PHP code possible courtesy SyntaxHighlighter Evolved.
• Want to see what other plugins are currently active?
• Code really is poetry…

add_shortcode('listcaticons', 'rs_caticons_listing');
function rs_caticons_listing() {
 $output = '<ul>';
 foreach(get_categories("orderby=name&order=ASC") as $category) {
 $output .= '<li>';
 $output .= get_cat_icon('class=left&echo=false&small=false&link=false&fit_height=48&fit_width=48&cat='.$category->cat_ID);
 $output .= ' ';
 $output .= '<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0.1cm;">'.$category->cat_name.'&nbsp;&nbsp;<small>('.$category->count.')</small></h3>';
 $output .= $category->description;
 $output .= '<br/><br/>';
 $output .= '</li>';
 }
 $output .= '</ul>';
 return $output;
}