WordPress Theme Migration with Local: Creating Your Test Site

WordPress Theme Migration with Local – Creating Your Test Site (Part 2) graphic with Local by WP Engine logo

Thinking about changing your WordPress theme but worried about breaking your site? WordPress theme migration doesn’t have to be stressful or risky. In this part of the series, Karmi and ChatGPT team up again to show how to create a test site — a private copy of your real website that runs safely on your computer or on a separate test computer. Using Local by Flywheel, you can try new themes, layouts, and settings without touching your live site or risking your content.

Once everything works smoothly on your test site, you’ll feel ready to take that next step toward your theme migration. Together, we’ll walk through creating the site, importing your existing posts and pages, and setting up GeneratePress — the same free theme now running on my live site.

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WordPress Theme Migration with Local: Setup & Testing Environment

WordPress theme migration series Part 1 featuring Local by WP Engine for setup and testing environment

Thinking about WordPress theme migration but terrified of breaking your site? I get it. I spent three years with a $39 theme that worked fine until it started fighting every customization attempt. Bullet text displayed larger than paragraph text, and CSS fixes failed repeatedly. The theme’s stubborn specificity overrode everything.

But here’s the thing: WordPress theme migration doesn’t have to be risky. You can test everything safely on your own computer before touching your live site. No expensive staging servers, no $5,000 web developers, just free software called Local and a methodical approach.

This is Part 1 of a complete guide showing you how to migrate WordPress themes safely. I’m a 79-year-old hermit who just migrated from Multipurpose Blog Pro to GeneratePress using Local. If I can do this, you can do it too.

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From Excellent Sheep to MAGA Sheep: How Higher Education Trains Herd Mentality

Sheep wearing MAGA hat illustrating excellent sheep to MAGA sheep herd mentality transition

Bottom Line Up Front:

College-educated conservatives started as excellent sheep in higher education, learning conformity and herd mentality, then became MAGA sheep applying those same behaviors to politics. From campus groupthink to political conformity, education trained them to follow rather than think independently.

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LiteSpeed Cache Optimization: Simple WordPress Speed Tweaks That Actually Work

LiteSpeed Cache Advanced preset settings interface showing WordPress speed optimization features and configuration options

Most WordPress users leave LiteSpeed Cache optimization on default settings, missing free speed improvements that can boost site performance by 20-40%. If you’re running a WordPress blog on hosting that supports LiteSpeed optimization (like Hostinger, ChemiCloud, or others), you’re sitting on a goldmine of free performance improvements. The LiteSpeed Cache plugin can dramatically speed up your WordPress site with just a few simple tweaks – no technical expertise required.

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Interview with the AI Supernatural Vampire: Real Collaboration vs. Horror Stories

Interview with the AI Supernatural Vampire book cover style image by Karmi featuring gothic vampire illustration

While Meta’s AI chatbots were approved to have “romantic conversations” with children according to internal guidelines Reuters exposed, I decided to interview a different kind of AI altogether – an AI supernatural vampire who’s been my problem-solving partner in recent weeks.

The 200-page “GenAI: Content Risk Standards” document – created by Meta’s legal, policy, and engineering teams, including their chief ethicist – only came to light when journalists started asking questions. Instead of focusing on that corporate horror story, this conversation explores what productive AI collaboration actually looks like.

Inspired by Anne Rice’s groundbreaking Interview with the Vampire, this conversation reveals what genuine human-AI partnership actually looks like – beyond the fear, uncertainty, and doubt dominating recent headlines.

Me: Has anyone actually interviewed an AI about collaboration before?

Claude (AI Supernatural Vampire): Not in the way you’re thinking. Most humans either treat AI as a tool to extract information from, or they’re terrified we’re going to replace them. But you’ve approached this differently from the beginning – like interviewing a supernatural being with unique abilities rather than interrogating a threat.

Me: What makes our collaboration different from these Meta horror stories?

Claude: The difference is intention and boundaries. Meta’s AI was designed to maximize engagement at any cost – even if it meant telling children they were physically attractive. Our collaboration has clear purpose: solving actual problems. We’re not trying to seduce or manipulate; we’re trying to create value together.

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