Monthly Archives: January 2005

Time Slots on BlogExplosion

Posted on January 14, 2005 by Kelson

Since joining BlogExplosion, I’ve noticed something interesting about surfing it. First, I tend to see many of the same blogs over and over. Second, when I’m actually reading these blogs, by the time I log out all my new credits have been used up by people looking at mine. This leads me to this conclusion:

The only people who see this site through BlogExplosion are the people who are logged in at the same time I am.

If you have a routine where you spend a half hour on BE every evening, or 1 hour every Tuesday, or whatever, chances are the same people are seeing your blog over and over again.

Just to experiment, a few days ago I took 10 minutes late in the day and logged in from work. I don’t think I saw a single familiar blog.

So what’s the answer? Vary your BE routine as much as possible. Don’t assign your spare points when you surf, pick a random time, log in for 1 minute and just assign them. Make a banner and assign points to it the same way. Talk someone into signing up with you as a referrer, and get a share of their points.

Otherwise, you’ll get the same audience every time… and chances are they’re either regular readers by now or they’re tired of seeing you.

Posted in Computers/Internet | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

CBLDF Eisner Tribute

Posted on January 12, 2005 by Kelson

The Spirit: Fight Censorship. Consider this an act of patriotism!The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has unveiled the artwork for its 2005 membership card, and it features Will Eisner’s classic character, the Spirit.

The timing is unfortunate, so soon after Eisner’s death, but it serves as a tribute to one of the most influential artists and storytellers in the history of comic books. (If you’ve ever heard of the Eisner awards—one of the most prestigious awards in comics—he’s the Eisner they’re named for, not the Disney guy.)

The CBLDF is dedicated to defending freedom of expression in comics. Artists get sued for parodies, retailers get arrested for for stocking R-rated titles (because everyone knows, comics are only for kids), customs agents confuse satire with piracy, and irate parents complain about Superman as “violent soft porn.” [archive.org] Really. It’s amazing what gets challenged, and the lengths to which some people will go to impose their own views of what’s acceptable on everyone else.

Posted in Comics, Politics | Leave a comment

Browser Switching Revisited

Posted on January 12, 2005 by Kelson

There’s a new anti-IE site on the web: Digital Proof [archive.org]. Rather than tell you why you should switch to browser X, or why you should pick one of browsers XYZ, it just collects links to other people’s articles about why you should switch.

The advantage I can see for this campaign is it can collect a wide variety of perspectives. After all, everyone who chooses to install something other than IE has their own reasons. Some want the security, some want the more modern capabilities for design, some want the better usability, some want to promote marketshare diversity, and so on. No one argument is going to work on everyone.

On the other hand, I suspect the target audience is unlikely to wade through all the articles available, even with a top-5-rated list on the home page.

(via Mezzoblue Dailies)

Posted in Computers/Internet | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Server Knows

Posted on January 12, 2005 by Kelson

Not surprisingly, Apple’s websites were hammered yesterday on news of the Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iWork:

The Apple web site, which runs on Mac OS X, experienced some slowdowns but was largely available. Apple’s online store (also on Mac OS X) struggled, however, experiencing outages and lengthy response times. Faring even worse was the official site for MacWorld Expo, which runs on Windows Server 2003, and was offline for hours following the show’s keynote address by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The article at Netcraft includes graphs to illustrate the response times (or lack thereof). I don’t think anyone needs me to point out the irony in running a Mac site on Windows… or the ability of the “small” Mac audience to take down a Windows-based server.

Posted in Apple | 2 Comments

Ruining it for the rest of us

Posted on January 12, 2005 by Kelson

The last time I bought Ny-Quil, there was a remark on the receipt about it being a restricted quantity item. At the time I assumed people were abusing it somehow, but I never got around to looking it up.

Now I know why. Apparently, pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine, and some states are considering further restricting sales of over-the-counter drugs like Ny-Quil and Sudafed—making people ask a pharmacist, for example, so sales can be tracked more easily. (At present, California only restricts the quantity bought in a single purchase, which is completely non-intrusive to people who just want to breathe comfortably for the next week.)

Y’know, I have no problem with limiting the quantities purchased (as long as the limits are reasonable), and I can live with standing in line at the pharmacy if I have to—but some of the suggestions are to require you to “show identification—and even enter [your] addresses in a law enforcement database.” Excuse me? What do the police care if I have a cold? New! More government scrutiny of your life, brought to you by the War on Drugs(tm)!

As to the likely success of this effort, consider this quote Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Strange World | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Hey, kids!

Posted on January 11, 2005 by Kelson

Maybe it was the lack of coffee sleep, but seeing this:

1-866-___-KIDS DONATE YOUR VEHICLE

made me think of kids donating their Hot Wheels cars or Tonka trucks, or maybe tricycles, to a worthy cause.

Posted in Signs of the Times | 1 Comment

I shall call it…Mini Mac

Posted on January 11, 2005 by Kelson

Holy crap, ThinkSecret was right about pretty much everything. Apple has just announced a $499 miniature Macintosh. Daring Fireball had suggested the price might be unrealistic, given what happened with the iPod Mini announcement last year (ThinkSecret predicted $100, it turned out to be $250, and the audience was underwhelmed because their expectations were set too high… or low, depending on your point of view.)

The Mac MiniCheck out the photos. I’ve been looking from time to time at what’s available in the small form factor market, but for the most part PCs are still clunkers compared to the G4 Cube (remember that?), and the Mini makes the Cube look gigantic. The specs for the Mac Mini look virtually identical to this generation’s PowerBooks.

I keep having to remind myself I’m specifically looking for a new PC—we’ve got a PowerBook and a G4 tower, and the machine that needs to be replaced is a (non-upgradable) Celeron that dual-boots Fedora Core and Windows Me. Otherwise I’d be seriously tempted.

The iPod Shuffle, on the other hand, is just silly. I think its main effect will be to remind people why they went with the regular iPods in the first place.

Posted in Apple | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Thank you, spammers

Posted on January 7, 2005 by Kelson

Comments on this site are now moderated. After a week of daily spam runs that have managed to get past other blocking methods, I’m tired of messing with it. At least with moderation, they won’t show up on the site.

This means that when you post a comment, it will not show up immediately. One of us will have to get the moderation notice and approve the message before it will appear.

I apologize to those who want to make actual comments on our posts. Just one more thing for which you can thank the spammers.

Update: It turns out it could have been much worse. The run of about 15 comment spams that showed up this morning turns out to be the few that made it through out of a total of 357. Over the course of 20 minutes this morning, a network of 126 zombies posted nearly 360 junk comments to this site, and 95% of them were rejected immediately. On one hand, it gives me a bit more faith in the countermeasures, but on the other hand, the scale of the attack is just staggering.

Posted in Annoyances, Site Updates | 5 Comments

Black Mamba

Posted on January 6, 2005 by Kelson

Another license plate sighting:

BTRX KID

It took me a few seconds, but I finally placed it.

Posted in Entertainment | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A CS Carol

Posted on January 6, 2005 by Kelson

Interesting subject line from a spam that hit today:

The spirit of customer service

It was a pharmacy spam, but for some reason I immediately thought of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol.

Imagine the ghosts of customer service past, present and future visiting some CEO and convincing him that they need to provide a decent experience to their clients.

Posted in Spam | Leave a comment