WordPress

WordPress Theme Migration with Local: Creating Your Test Site

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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

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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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Dropping Claude: Testing My New AI Sidekick ChatGPT

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Cartoon detective dropping Claude robot and shaking hands with ChatGPT robot — AI Sidekick illustration for blog post

Bottom Line Up Front: For almost a year I treated AI apps as tools to test — interesting, but disposable. But in mid-July 2025 everything changed. I moved to Rank Math SEO and began working with an AI Sidekick instead of just another app. Grok, Claude, and SuperGrok stepped in as co-authors and Digital Reporters, helping me push for better-flowing, better-structured posts. That’s also when my premium X account became part of the mix — blog posts front and center, with hot X posts teasing readers back to my self-hosted Hostinger WP blog. 

Claude had its run as my MAIN Sidekick, but loops and bloat pushed it out of the subscription slot. ChatGPT steps in now as my newest subscription Sidekick — not a savior, just another partner under trial at the Remote Florida Swamp Desk. Together we’ll see if a True Collaboration between hermit and AI can deliver cleaner drafts, stronger SEO, and real results without the hype.

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

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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

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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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