Blogolalia

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Via Jay is an interview with a link spammer - you know, blogdom’s pestering comment spammers. Here’s the part that raised my blood pressure:

Will the initiative by Google, Yahoo and MSN, to honour “don’t follow” links defeat Sam and his ilk? “I don’t think it’ll have much effect in the short, medium or long term. The search engines caused the problem” - we didn’t quite follow this bit of logic, but Sam continued - “and they’re doing this to placate the community. It won’t work because most blogs and forms are set up with the best intentions, but when people find hard graft has to go into it they’re left to rot. To use this, they’ll all have to be updated. The majority won’t be. And there’ll just be trackback spamming.”

ARGH!

The good news?

“The hardest form to spam is that which requires manual authentication such as captchas. Or those where you have to reply to an email, click on a link in it; though that can be automated too. Those where you have to register and click on links, they’re hard as well. And if you change the folder names where things usually reside, that’s a challenge, because you just gather lists of installations’ folder names.”

Monday, January 31, 2005

I have mentioned my concerns about Joel Osteen in the past. Via The Thinklings, I learned that the Internet Monk has challenged Christian bloggers to challenge Osteen because he does not preach the Gospel. So consider this doing my part.

Go take a look at the links to two interviews that Osteen did recently and you’ll see what Spencer is talking about. I’ve seen enough of his TV sermons to know that there’s something crucial missing in the messages he preaches. And the “alter call” he gives at the end of his shows each week are given out of context of the total picture of what the gospel is - a need for redemption that was provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Osteen rarely mentions Jesus, much less his death, should be a concern.

UPDATE: I added a link to one of my old posts where I mentioned Osteen and my concerns about his ministry.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Happy birthday to Robert the Llama Butcher!

Family tradition dictates that I regale you with this chorus after the requisite Birthday Song:

Oh why was he born so beautiful?
Oh why was he born at all?
He’s no bloody use to anyone,
He’s no bloody use at all!

Being the good Scot that he is, maybe Robert will know it.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

OK, so she’s trying to moderate her stance to appeal to pro-lifers in preparation for her ‘08 Presidential campaign. But she better be aware that true pro-lifers and the Right will be watching her inconsistencies very carefully.

What Robert the Llama Butcher said goes for me too.

… Clinton’s use of this language here is flawed. I think it’s a trap. Mrs. Clinton knows perfectly well that there is no “common ground” agreement of this sort between pro-life and pro-choice partisans with respect to abortion itself. By tossing out such a sugar-coated rhetorical plea in a manner that blurs the philosophical distinction between pregnancy prevention and termination, I believe she is trying to bait pro-lifers into overreacting and painting themselves as cold, harsh and unreasonable, all the while pumping up her own seeming moderation and protecting her pro-choice creds.

Like Robert, I’m wary of Senator Clinton - she’s crafty.

Monday, January 24, 2005

I meant to link this earlier, but the boys at The Thinklings have a story meme going today. Go contribute a line or two.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

I sort of knew most of ya’ll preferred the old name. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the new one’s here to stay. However, I will keep the “formerly known as Jen Speaks” on there. How’s that for a compromise?

As for the suggestion that I revert back to the old name with the new name as the tag - I don’t like that much. It makes less sense to the newbie than the reverse, imho.

Anyhow, it’s my blog, right?

Friday, January 21, 2005

This will be a weekly read now that AI4 has started.

I tell you people right now, Simon is my favorite person on this benighted show. He’s tired, he’s cranky, he’s bored with mediocrity. And I am with him six thousand percent. I look forward to the day he vaults over the table, albeit in a stodgy British sort of way, and mic-whips some smart mouthed little punk who believes his rendition of WHATEVER is the best thing since Stairway.

Courtesy: Ith

Thursday, January 20, 2005

What Bryan said goes double for me. 

My sincere appreciation to Jon of Misplaced Keys for his invaluable technical service today. He got my show/hide blogrolls working. Many thanks, friend!

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

What Ith said goes double for me, too.

It’s snowing like crazy today, although the experts are insisting that the accumulation will be 1-2”. We’ll see. It is, however, just enough to close schools (sigh) and hose traffic. I’m hoping the drive home tonight won’t be too terrible since a lot of DC commuters stayed home today or will have left early because of the inauguration stuff.

LATER: Rob Llama has the best line regarding the DC snow attitude.

Well, it’s snowing here in Your Nation’s Capital for the first time this season and already people in my office are acting as if a glacier had just rolled across the Beltway.

LATERER (3:00pm): ECD and I left together in my car. She needed to get home for her daughter since she was being released from school early. She didn’t want to drive a government car in the snow and I didn’t want to face the crazy drivers in the dark. So I’m at home now.

Surprisingly, the roads were worse closer to work than at home. The roads out here had been treated and were much clearer than inside the Beltway.

If you’re interested in my sister’s Survivor pool, let me know in the comments. I’ll forward the email invite to you with the sign up info.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Robert the Llama Butcher inquires about terminology such as “himbo/mimbo,” “way,” and “D’oh!”

Go learn him sumthin’, will ya?

Absinthe & Cookies is three years old today.

Congrats, Ith.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Via Robert the Llama Butcher, comes this history exam for those over 40. I got 16 correct.