I use WordPress as a blogging tool. Instead of logging into the administration system I can easily create my blog entries in a desktop program and publish my entry if XML-RPC and Atom Publishing Protocol settings are enabled in your WordPress blog (Settings –> Writing)

I use Windows Live Writer and my blog is in a hosted environment and therefore I can not configure server myself since configuration is shared among all users.

I noticed using WordPress 2.9.2 that I could not use any desktop program to remotely publish correctly formatted posts anymore. <> and & characters were removed from my posts and therefore rendered incorrectly. I found out that it is was caused by an incorrect usage of a library, LibXML2, associated with PHP (the scripting engine WordPress use).

To correct this problem in a hosted environment you can download a plug-in that will help you take care of this problem. http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7771

The plugin can be located here http://josephscott.org/code/wordpress/plugin-libxml2-fix/

If you still have problems (which I had), you can try to downgrade the library one version further by editing the plugin file libxml2-fix.php

Replace:

if (
    LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION == ’2.6.27′

With:

if (
    LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION == ’2.6.26′

December 27, 2009 – January 13, 2010 I was on a fantastic trip to South Africa, Mocambique and Swaziland. A total of 3000 km was spent driving to the different destinations (you should see them pinned in one of the images that represents the map). The wildlife is amazing and the people are superfriendly. I’d like to share some of my images from this trip and hope you will enjoy them. Definately a trip worth remembering.

The only setback was that the diving in Mocambique was somewhat disappointing considering the other spots I have visited. On the other hand there are not many other dive sites that have the same opportunities to enjoy Whale Sharks and Manta Rays.

Some friends (Rita and Rene) arranged a diving trip to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt for a week in November 2008. We had a lovely time diving at some various spots including Ras Mohammad national park and Dahab.

In April 2008 we made a diving trip to Maldives and the island Kuredu. Kuredu is in the Lhaviyani Atoll a bit north of Male airport. The diving was quite nice although I heard from Christian that there are much more life in other more southern atolls (probably due to overfishing where the islands are more populated). Although you don’t have to dive to get some nice views (we saw the most just by snorkling on the outter rief). This was also the first time I got to see a Manta Ray. If you wish to travel there you can book a stay at http://www.kuredu.com