add blog covers

model/Post.class.php

@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 class Post
 {
-  protected $slug, $title, $author, $date, $contentHtml;
+  protected $slug, $title, $author, $date, $contentHtml, $cover;
+  protected $isCoverLight = false;
 
   public static function fromFile($filename)
   {
@@ -17,6 +18,8 @@ class Post
     $this->author = isset($frontMatter['author']) ? $frontMatter['author'] : null;
     $this->date = isset($frontMatter['date']) ? new DateTime($frontMatter['date']) : null;
     $this->contentHtml = ParsedownExtra::instance()->text(trim($markdown));
+    $this->cover = isset($frontMatter['cover']) ? $frontMatter['cover'] : null;
+    $this->isCoverLight = isset($frontMatter['cover-light']) && $frontMatter['cover-light'] == 'true';
   }
 
   public function getRelativeUrl()
@@ -44,6 +47,16 @@ class Post
     return $this->date;
   }
 
+  public function getCover()
+  {
+    return $this->cover;
+  }
+
+  public function getIsCoverLight()
+  {
+    return $this->isCoverLight;
+  }
+
   public function getContentHtml()
   {
     return $this->contentHtml;

view/posts/12-why-not-use-bitcoin-a-dialogue.md

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 author: jimmy
 title: Why Not Use Bitcoin? A Dialogue
 date: '2015-09-23 17:57:00'
+cover: 'why-not-bitcoin.jpg'
 ---
 
 One of the most common questions we're asked is, "Why not use Bitcoin?" This post uses a pair of conversations to look at one of the biggest reasons we can't. If you aren't concerned with this question or the technical specifics of LBRY, this post probably won't interest you.

view/posts/18-its-time-to-liberate-anne-franks-diary.md

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 author: lbry
 title: It’s Time To Liberate Anne Frank’s Diary
 date: '2015-11-18 14:27:39'
+cover: 'anne-frank-diary.jpg'
 ---
 
 It’s time to liberate Anne Frank’s diary so it is available to all of mankind.

view/posts/31-annefrank2.md

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 author: lbry
 title: Wikimedia Forced to Remove Anne Frank's Diary
 date: '2016-02-12 19:21:53'
+cover: 'anne-frank-2.png'
+cover-light: true
 ---
 
 US copyright law seems hell-bent on keeping The Diary of Anne Frank out of the public domain.
@@ -14,4 +16,4 @@ According to Jacob Rogers, counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation:
 
 [We previously mentioned](http://blog.lbry.io/its-time-to-liberate-anne-franks-diary/) how, through a twisted abuse of copyright law, Anne Frank Fonds, the foundation holding the copyright for The Diary of Anne Frank, hopes to keep it out of the public domain for **another 34 years**. The foundation made a last-minute claim that Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, co-authored the book, rather than simply serving as an editor. Instead of entering the public domain in 2016, 70 years after Anne’s passing, this would extend the copyright until 70 years after Otto’s death (2050 AD) – allowing Anne Frank Fonds to continue to rake in royalty checks for another few decades.
 
-Archaic and easily-abused copyright law, supposedly put in place to protect authors, instead smothers the free flow of information. We hope US legislators release their grip on Anne Frank’s diary so its profound insights can be shared with the world.
+Archaic and easily-abused copyright law, supposedly put in place to protect authors, instead smothers the free flow of information. We hope US legislators release their grip on Anne Frank’s diary so its profound insights can be shared with the world.

view/posts/33-zarghamjoins.md

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 author: lbry
 title: LBRY Exposes Itself to World; Adds Mad Scientist to Team
 date: '2016-03-02 18:12:13'
+cover: 'zargham-joins.jpg'
 ---
 
 LBRY hit some pretty significant milestones since the first of the year, and the momentum just keeps building with the addition of a new core team member and the opportunity to showcase our “magic box” to the crypto community.
@@ -17,4 +18,4 @@ Things are moving at breakneck speed...
 
 **The crypto community will have an opportunity to meet the LBRY team this weekend at the [2016 MIT Bitcoin Expo](http://mitbitcoinexpo.org).** This will be our first chance to show off the LBRY platform to the community that literally built our foundation.
 
-We’re excited about connecting with our roots, but make no mistake: our mission is to grow a platform that will put cryptocurrency in every living room – whether or not users care that it’s there!
+We’re excited about connecting with our roots, but make no mistake: our mission is to grow a platform that will put cryptocurrency in every living room – whether or not users care that it’s there!

view/posts/35-why-doesnt-lbry-just-use-bitcoin.md

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 author: lbry
 title: Why Doesn’t LBRY Just Use Bitcoin?
 date: '2016-03-17 13:31:10'
+cover: 'why-not-bitcoin2.jpg'
+cover-light: true
 ---
 
 LBRY employs blockchain technology, but doesn’t use Bitcoin itself. Instead, we use our own cryptocurrency, LBRY Credits (LBC).
@@ -40,4 +42,4 @@ Bitcoin was created as a grand experiment to demonstrate blockchain technology a
 
 Converting from fiat money to cryptocash is hard. But converting between cryptos is super-easy, especially since the launch of [ShapeShift.io](http://www.shapeshift.io/). So LBRYians can earn LBC and quickly convert it to BTC to save or spend. And Bitcoiners can easily convert a bit of their holdings to LBC to get great content on the LBRY network.
 
-One of our key goals is for LBRY/LBC to be easy to access for everyday people. Initially, users will get some just for downloading the app. And anyone will always be able to earn LBC by offering some of their disk space to store encrypted file slices for the LBRY network. Because it won't involved linking bank accounts to exchanges or even converting any of their precious fiat, we hope LBC will serve as an easy entry point for John Q. Public into the world of cryptocurrency. They might not even realize at first that's what they're using!
+One of our key goals is for LBRY/LBC to be easy to access for everyday people. Initially, users will get some just for downloading the app. And anyone will always be able to earn LBC by offering some of their disk space to store encrypted file slices for the LBRY network. Because it won't involved linking bank accounts to exchanges or even converting any of their precious fiat, we hope LBC will serve as an easy entry point for John Q. Public into the world of cryptocurrency. They might not even realize at first that's what they're using!

view/posts/36-built-for-artists-by-autists-lbry-takes-autism-personally.md

@@ -1,34 +1,15 @@
 ---
 author: lbry
-title: 'Information Gatekeepers Make Our Culture Sick'
-date: '2016-04-26 10:06:18'
+title: 'Built for Artists by Autists: LBRY Takes Autism Personally'
+date: '2016-03-21 20:06:18'
 ---
-The free flow of ideas is vital for a healthy, functioning society. When the flow of information is blocked in some way, culture atrophies. 
 
-Nina Paley is a cartoonist and filmmaker.  Her TED talk on intellectual property vividly captures the importance of maintaining a free flow of information and ideas.
+Understanding autism is personal for us.
 
-<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XO9FKQAxWZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
+![Built for Artists by Autists: LBRY Takes Autism Personally](http://i.imgur.com/gDip22e.jpg)
 
->“We are information transmitters. Information enters through our senses, like our eyes and ears, and it exits through our expressions, like our voices, our writings, our drawings. And all of this information going through us creates a living phenomenon called culture. In order for culture to stay alive, we have to be open – transmitting and receiving information.”
+A recent New York Times [op-ed](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/an-experimental-autism-treatment-cost-me-my-marriage/) by John Elder Robison tells the story of his life before and after taking part in a groundbreaking experiment into using an innovative electromagnetic therapy to perhaps remediate a core disability of autism. Robison, who is on the autism spectrum had a successful career and family life, but nevertheless faced personal challenges and decided to try TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, to gain greater insight into the emotional cues and nonverbal communications of other people. Researchers hoped to  gain better insight into how TMS might help address these challenges. Robison hopes these insights will one day form the basis of therapies, and he himself experienced great rewards - even from this early stage experiment. The treatment granted him the ability to better read and feel emotions, but it was quite a ride. His marriage fell apart, and many of his personal relationships became strained for years. Conversely, with new eyes, he formed many new relationships, he re-married, and many others relationships grew stronger.
 
-As Nina puts it, culture is a network and art is made up of the information we have received through culture: “It is through this flow that culture stays alive and we stay connected to each other.”
+John’s son, Jack Robison, is LBRY’s own core developer. Jack, also on the autism spectrum (and who once [faced 60 years in prison](http://blog.lbry.io/jack-robison-escaped-60-years-in-prison-now-hes-revolutionizing-the-internet/) for misunderstood high school chemistry experiments), has been a steadfast advocate for autism rights. To say autism awareness and understanding is an issue near and dear to our hearts is an understatement.
 
-Block the flow and the culture becomes sick. We become disconnected. It is similar to the way clogged arteries lead to a heart attack. Clogging the free flow of information cripples culture.
-
-Nina argues that current intellectual property laws serve as a roadblock to the free flow of ideas. People become so obsessed with what they can or cannot use, they end up self-censoring. The threat of “getting in trouble” dictates our choices about what we can express.
-
->“Whenever we censor our expression, we close a little more and information flows a little less. The less information flows, the more it stagnates. Evolution, innovation and progress stall. This is what we call permission culture.”
-
-Nina is talking about gatekeepers. They are primarily big corporations that dictate what information can flow to the public and what can’t. 
-
-Nina produced a feature film titled *Sita Sings the Blues*. In the film, she used music from the 1920s by a singer named Annette Hanshaw. The songs should have been in the public domain years ago, but they weren’t due to retroactive copyright extension. As Nina began navigating through the system trying to secure permission to use the music, she learned first hand the power of the gatekeepers:
-
->“The kept telling me, ‘Yes It’s annoying, but the same system is protecting your intellectual property’ ... But found copyright holders weren’t getting more money because of the copyright. What they were getting is the power to suppress art – to suppress communication.”
-
-Ultimately, the system doesn’t benefit the artists, it doesn’t benefit the actual art in question, and it doesn’t benefit the public. It benefits the big corporations that hold the rights. As an artist, Nina experienced first hand how the system blocks the free flow of ideas:
-
->“What copyright was doing was blocking the circulation of my comics, which is probably why most of you haven’t seen my comics.”
-
-LBRY seeks to open up the flow of information, to increase connectivity, and support a healthy culture. Through a decentralized platform like LBRY, creators can directly connect with their audience to eliminate the need for byzantine rights enforcement. Your payment goes right to the artist - not to the gatekeepers.
-
-But would LBRY help Nina with her film? Well, she would still need to secure the rights to Annette Hanshaw’s music, but that would be between her and the copyright holders. That reality still exists. But we envision a world without major media corporations – and their fat legal budgets. Most artists we know don’t want to see their work put in a legal cage. They want to be part of the cultural conversation and receive fair compensation for their work. The reason they get stuck in severe copyright agreements is to access the distribution channels of a major record or production company. By creating a massive decentralized content marketplace, we render those companies obsolete. Poof!
+What’s more, we plan to put our credits where our mouth is and grant a significant sum of LBRY credits to [William and Mary’s neurodiversity program](http://www.wm.edu/sites/neurodiversity/) to further research, education, and outreach into autism.

view/posts/38-gatekeepers-make-our-culture-sick.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+author: lbry
+title: 'Information Gatekeepers Make Our Culture Sick'
+date: '2016-04-26 10:06:18'
+cover: 'gatekeepers.png'
+---
+The free flow of ideas is vital for a healthy, functioning society. When the flow of information is blocked in some way, culture atrophies.
+
+Nina Paley is a cartoonist and filmmaker.  Her TED talk on intellectual property vividly captures the importance of maintaining a free flow of information and ideas.
+
+<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XO9FKQAxWZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
+
+>“We are information transmitters. Information enters through our senses, like our eyes and ears, and it exits through our expressions, like our voices, our writings, our drawings. And all of this information going through us creates a living phenomenon called culture. In order for culture to stay alive, we have to be open – transmitting and receiving information.”
+
+As Nina puts it, culture is a network and art is made up of the information we have received through culture: “It is through this flow that culture stays alive and we stay connected to each other.”
+
+Block the flow and the culture becomes sick. We become disconnected. It is similar to the way clogged arteries lead to a heart attack. Clogging the free flow of information cripples culture.
+
+Nina argues that current intellectual property laws serve as a roadblock to the free flow of ideas. People become so obsessed with what they can or cannot use, they end up self-censoring. The threat of “getting in trouble” dictates our choices about what we can express.
+
+>“Whenever we censor our expression, we close a little more and information flows a little less. The less information flows, the more it stagnates. Evolution, innovation and progress stall. This is what we call permission culture.”
+
+Nina is talking about gatekeepers. They are primarily big corporations that dictate what information can flow to the public and what can’t.
+
+Nina produced a feature film titled *Sita Sings the Blues*. In the film, she used music from the 1920s by a singer named Annette Hanshaw. The songs should have been in the public domain years ago, but they weren’t due to retroactive copyright extension. As Nina began navigating through the system trying to secure permission to use the music, she learned first hand the power of the gatekeepers:
+
+>“The kept telling me, ‘Yes It’s annoying, but the same system is protecting your intellectual property’ ... But found copyright holders weren’t getting more money because of the copyright. What they were getting is the power to suppress art – to suppress communication.”
+
+Ultimately, the system doesn’t benefit the artists, it doesn’t benefit the actual art in question, and it doesn’t benefit the public. It benefits the big corporations that hold the rights. As an artist, Nina experienced first hand how the system blocks the free flow of ideas:
+
+>“What copyright was doing was blocking the circulation of my comics, which is probably why most of you haven’t seen my comics.”
+
+LBRY seeks to open up the flow of information, to increase connectivity, and support a healthy culture. Through a decentralized platform like LBRY, creators can directly connect with their audience to eliminate the need for byzantine rights enforcement. Your payment goes right to the artist - not to the gatekeepers.
+
+But would LBRY help Nina with her film? Well, she would still need to secure the rights to Annette Hanshaw’s music, but that would be between her and the copyright holders. That reality still exists. But we envision a world without major media corporations – and their fat legal budgets. Most artists we know don’t want to see their work put in a legal cage. They want to be part of the cultural conversation and receive fair compensation for their work. The reason they get stuck in severe copyright agreements is to access the distribution channels of a major record or production company. By creating a massive decentralized content marketplace, we render those companies obsolete. Poof!

view/template/blog/post.php

@@ -1,15 +1,22 @@
 <?php Response::setMetaDescription($post->getTitle()) ?>
 <?php echo View::render('nav/header') ?>
 <main>
-  <div class="post-content">
-    <section class="content spacer2">
+  <header class="post-header"
+          <?php echo $post->getCover() ? 'style="background-image: url(\'/img/blog-covers/' . $post->getCover() . '\')"' : ''?>
+          >
+    <div class="post-header-inner content <?php echo !$post->getCover() || $post->getIsCoverLight() ? 'content-light' : 'content-dark' ?>">
       <h1><?php echo htmlentities($post->getTitle()) ?></h1>
-      <div class="meta spacer1" title="<?php echo $post->getDate()->format('F jS, Y') ?>">
-        <div class="clearfix">
-          <div class="pull-left spacer1"><?php echo $post->getAuthorName() ?></div>
-          <div class="pull-right spacer1"><?php echo $post->getDate()->format('M j') ?></div>
-        </div>
+      <div class="meta spacer1">
+        <?php echo $post->getAuthorName() ?>
+        &bull;
+        <span title="<?php echo $post->getDate()->format('F jS, Y') ?>"><?php echo $post->getDate()->format('M j') ?></span>
       </div>
+    </div>
+  </header>
+
+  <div class="post-content">
+
+    <section class="content spacer2">
       <div class="post-content">
         <?php echo $post->getContentHtml() ?>
       </div>

view/template/layout/basic.php

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
                           'LBRY' ?>
         <title><?php echo $title ?></title>
 
-        <link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Merriweather:300,300italic,700,700italic|Raleway:300,300italic,400,400italic' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
+        <link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Merriweather:300,300italic,700,700italic|Raleway:300,300italic,400,400italic,700' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
         <link href="/css/all.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen,print" />
         <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="60x60" href="/img/fav/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png">
         <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="114x114" href="/img/fav/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png">

web/scss/_blog.scss

@@ -1,22 +1,56 @@
 @import "global";
 
-.prev-next {
+.prev-next
+{
   margin-top: $spacing-vertical * 2;
   margin-bottom: $spacing-vertical * 2;
 
-  .prev-next-label {
+  .prev-next-label
+  {
     font-weight: bold;
   }
-  .next {
+  .next
+  {
     text-align: right;
   }
 }
 
+
+.post-header
+{
+  margin-bottom: $spacing-vertical * 2;
+  min-height: 500px;
+
+  @include background-size (cover);
+  background-repeat: no-repeat;
+  background-position: center center;
+
+  @include absolute-center();
+
+  .post-header-inner
+  {
+    margin: auto;
+    font-size: 1.5em;
+    text-align: center;
+    font-weight: bold;
+
+    &.content-dark
+    {
+      text-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.4), -1px -1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4), 1px -1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4), -1px 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4), 1px 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
+    }
+    &.content-light
+    {
+      text-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(255,255,255,0.4), -1px -1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.4), 1px -1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.4), -1px 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.4), 1px 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.4);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+
 .post-content
 {
   margin-left: auto;
   margin-right: auto;
-  max-width: 800px;
+  max-width: $max-post-content-width;
   a[href]
   {
     @include anchor($color-primary);
@@ -26,6 +60,7 @@
     margin-top: $spacing-vertical;
   }
 }
+
 .post-author-spotlight
 {
   h3 { text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: $spacing-vertical / 4 !important; }

web/scss/_global.scss

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ $font-size: 16px;
 $mobile-width-threshold: 801px;
 $max-content-width: 1000px;
 $max-text-width: 660px;
+$max-post-content-width: 800px;
 
 $font-header: 'Raleway', sans-serif;
 $font-body: 'Raleway', sans-serif;