Al-Muhajabah's Movable Type Tips

This is just for fun. Using the dhsLevel plugin, you can display the current threat level from the Department of Homeland Security. What the plugin does is visit the official government site and retrieve the current posted threat level.

There's one tag, <$MTdhsLevel$>, which outputs the name of an image file, such as dhs-advisory-elevated.gif. You can download a set of the official advisory images from the plugin site. Or you may have your own set of images that you wish to use. I do, mine are called "Homeland Security BS Advisory System" (elevated status level matches with "USA Patriot Act - Civil Liberties Suspended).

You can use whatever set of images you want as long as the filename matches those produced by the plugin. For instance, you could match up dhs-advisory-severe.gif with an image like or create your own that says "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!" (in my set, it matches with "Constitution Repealed - Totalitarian State Established")

In your template, use the following code where you want the image to appear:

<img src="http://path.to/images/<$MTdhsLevel$>">

Aside 3/18: The threat level is back up to orange today because of the imminent Iraq war. My alternate set of images says "Plot war on weak third-world dictatorship to boost polls". Ouch!

BTW, contact me if you'd like to use my set of images.