Last night was the Chicago stop for Gigantour, which is probably the highest production show I've seen since Van Halen¹, since I mostly go to small independent shows. I didn't realize that the show started at 4:30, so I missed High on Fire before I'd even left work. We got there in the midst of Children Of Bodom, who put on a hell of a show² , just all out metal. In Flames set was rather lackluster, save for "Only For The Weak".

Megadeth was in another gear entirely. I was really into them in junior high, so it seemed kind of weird to be just seeing them for the first time at 28. Nothing else mattered when they launched their set, though. I was immediately in a state of childlike glee, as they ripped into "Sleepwalker" and "Wake Up Dead". It's like this:

• Megadeth's new stuff is cut from the same cloth as their old stuff. The same can't be said for most metal bands *cough*InFlames*cough*
• Their set heavily favors the songs that made them great (still looking at you, IF).
• When Dave wears tight black pants, he looks like the old school metal god he is. When Anders wears them, he looks like a scene kid.
• For all of COB's technical, precise speed and fun-loving songs, Megadeth still has better songs, better groove, and a ton more energy.

Fuck the haters, Megadeth isn't a 2nd tier thrash band, they're a 1st rate band who plays thrash. Their songs exist outside of metal-for-metalheads. For all that guitar hero has brought metal back, few, if any, bands in this decade have superceded the genre. Going into the show, I expected to enjoy COB and IF, and maybe stick around for Megadeth. COB delivered on my expectations, but Megadeth blew me away.

1. Discounting festivals like Lollapalooza (back ↩)
2. although my boss was a little non-plussed by the keyboardist's lack of stage presence. (back ↩)

via log_070329 (usually NSFW)

1. Download the exisitng /wp-content/ directory (all of it ( some plugins (cforms, wp-eCommerce) contain modified or uploaded files)).
2. Install wordpress on the new domain. Very few of the settings matter, because they're all going to be overwritten. Nonetheless, it's easiest to use fantastico or Simplescripts to set up the database, and create the basic file structure.
3. Delete the new /wp-content/ folder, and upload the existing /wp-content/ folder. This step may take a long time, so you can do the next few steps while it's uploading.
4. Export the old database, using PHPMyAdmin:
   
5. Open the exported *.SQL file, using a code editor (Eclipse/Aptana, Notepad++, or (god forbid) Dreamweaver), and find and replace the old domain name with the new one.
   
6. After step 4 has completely finished (so that all of the plugins and themes exist before WordPress attempts to use them), use PHPMyAdmin on the new host to delete the newly created database tables
   
7. ... and import the new ones.
   
8. On the existing install, set the blog address to the new URL. this ensures that any google juice that the development server may have picked up will be transfered to the new domain (this isn't necessary if the development server doesn't face the internet).
   

This places the responsibility on theme authors to support the new classes. They are:

• alignleft
• alignright
• aligncenter

I'm not convinced of the need for the align prefix, but it's great progress nonetheless. If your theme doesn't support those classes, here's the code you can insert at the end to handle them:

.alignleft,.left {
	float:left;
	margin: 0.5em;
}
.alignright,.right {
	float:right;
	margin: 0.5em;
}
.aligncenter, .center {
	display: block;
	text-align: center;
	margin: 0 auto;
}