I’ve been thinking about the laptop I’ll be getting for uni, and the freedom of having my own computer to use. Here’s some of the first things I’ll be installing:
I’m really excited and it’s going to be very cool 
Due to the WordPress security exploit I mentioned earlier, WaggishBLOG was taken offline for just under ten minutes this afternoon as I worked on upgrading. It’s not quite as simple as for WordPress installations within Xinki, as Waggishmab.org.uk is a separate endeavour. Anyway, it’s done now, and both are running WordPress 2.1.2.
A Wikimedian, Essjay, has been the subject of much controversy over the last day or two. In the summer he gave an interview to Stacey Schiff, a journalist with US paper The New Yorker. In it he said he was a “tenured professor of theology”. Recently, after taking up a paid position with Wikia, it was revealed he is in fact a 24-year-old kid named Ryan Jordan, as his userpage currently says. He is no professor, and he has no degrees. Of course, there is no obligation to be “real” on Wikipedia - rightly so. The debate has erupted after The New Yorker published an editor’s note on the article’s page on their website. Essjay is a long-standing and respected Wikimedian - he (was - as of today) an arbitrator, bureaucrat, checkuser, oversight - in positions of trust, for those unfamiliar with WP) and the issue is whether he used his fake credentials in content issues. I am simply reporting how I see it here; for detailed information you can read the wikiEN-l mailing list archives - particularly this thread started by Jimmy Wales.
Recently a number of applications were introduced or upgraded across Xinki. A new development wiki, Xinki Lab, was set up, and the experimental Ajax functionality enabled on it for testing purposes. A site status page was written, unfortunately it is currently stale and does not yet auto-update.
MediaWiki was upgraded. WordPress (including this blog) was upgraded - twice in 36 hours. Old junk was deleted. Remember, I am always looking for people to help maintain Xinki so everyone can benefit.