Category: Activities

Switched

I’d rather fight than switch. I’ve switched my blog over to WordPress. I’ve got the font size issue fixed. Everything is imported from the old blog. The only problem is that links to the old blog won’t work, because the naming convention of individual posts has changed. Now if only I could remember to uncheck “Uncategorized” before saving each entry.

Anyway, if you’re having any problems with the way things render, links not working, comment spam blocking requiring you to jump through too many hoops, you’re seeing comment or trackback spam, or other problems, please let me know via email to ptomblin at xcski.com

Comment and Trackback spam

I had 60 comment and trackback spams overnight. All but one of them were for the same URL. By the time I got through MT-Blacklist removing them, it had already blocked 5 more attempts to spam the same URL.

The problem isn’t keeping up with the URLs that they’re spamming – that’s never going to be completely under control, but MT-Blacklist does an ok job. The problem is the compromised PCs that the spammers are using. Last night’s spam run involved about a dozen different IPs – you can bet your life that ever single one of them is some idiot’s home PC that’s been taken over by a virus, trojan or spyware.

I can’t keep up with that list of IPs, but I bet there is a clearing house out there, and a plug-in for *some* blog software, that will. Any suggestions?

He made it!

Steve Fossett made it – first solo unrefueled flight around the world. I’m thrilled. No particular reason why. It’s not like in the grand scheme of things it’s as important as Americans dying in Iraq and the genocide in Sudan, but I’m thrilled. It’s just fun. And once again Burt Rutan proves that if there is an aviation challenge, he can design and build the airplane (or spacecraft) to meet it. I’m even more thrilled to hear that Space Ship One is going to be at Oshkosh this year. That’s just doubled my conviction that I need to go.

In other news, I got my laptop back from the shop. The hinge is definitely stiffer than it was (I think they replaced the whole screen, not just the hinge), but it fails the “propped up on your knees while sitting on the couch” test – it still flops down, just slower.

And in other news, I’m at Piedmont Hawthorne waiting for the flying club officer’s meeting to start, and the god-damned wireless internet connection blocks outgoing ssh and telnet connections. Thank God I installed Squirrel Mail so at least I can read my email, even if I can’t read news.