As an administrator of 50-plus WordPress installations, I’m well aware of the attack last night that spammed for “Video Poker”. How did this attack work when others did not? Neither “video” nor “poker” are words in the common spam words entry on the WordPress wiki, which is where many, including myself, find a base for their spam words moderation keys.

It is up the administrator of any WordPress installation to more fully develop their spam words profile. We all get comment spam, so we know what needs to be added and when.

If you’re dealing with a ton of Weblog spam this morning, let me offer a couple tutorials for you, complete to screenshots: How to Rid Yourself of Comment Spam and Stemming the Tide of Comment Spam with a Tar Pit. It could take you a little while, but hey … if you’re in the States, you got an extra hour to live today.

One of the big reasons that I hate DST is that I have to change umpteen Web bits that use GMT time correction. Since there’s no worldwide observance of DST, there’s no way to easily code a solution that easily changes the values around for everyone. Instead, you’re left to flip the bits on your own. I might have three clocks in my house that don’t change on their own; I have a lot more Web bits to flip.

I hate DST.

Always have.

Always will.

Mom called me on Wednesday to see if I could figure out three-way calling. While we talked, I found out how to work three way calling on BellSouth service and scheduled to talk with my parents and my brother, Doug, today.

I got home around 1645 and called Mom. I followed the instructions, and when I got Doug on the phone, I thought I had it right. I clicked the phone again: dial tone.

Suck.

I decided that the cordless must not be right for the job, so I hit my corded phone. Got Mom—click. Got Doug—click—dial tone.

SUCK!

I walked over to my desk, grabbed my cell, and called the house phone. I picked up the house phone, put the home line on hold with the Treo, then called my work number. When I got my voicemail, I conferenced in and picked up the cordless … to hear my own voice on my work voicemail intro. I hung up both phones, turned around, called Mom and then Doug, then conferenced them in.

HUZZAH.

I’ve changed the typeface of this site.

I got tired of reading large Georgia font. Feh. I like Georgia for headlines, though, so it’s still around. I blame that on how the numbers look; I read Reader’s Digest a lot as a kid when visiting either set of grandparents, and that’s close to the typeface they used in the 1980s and 1990s.

I’ve changed how I invoke Feed on Feeds for the time being; I think I might make it a permanent change.

I’ve been using Steve’s recommendation: /usr/local/bin/GET -C user:password http://domain.tld/path/to/fof/update-quiet.php

I’m now using: wget –quiet http://user:password@domain.tld/path/to/fof/update-quiet.php

The latter seems to work far faster, and wget is specifically designed to pull files via HTTP.

I probably would have done this all along if I’d realized how to do HTTP authentication in an URL. Duh.

Every couple of hours or so, I have an idle thought: “The Sawx really are world champs.” It makes me giggle.

The last time I enjoyed a Series like I did this one was the last time that a Tony LaRussa-managed team got swept in the Fall Classic.

My friends PJ and Gricelda Benfield are now parents:

Congrats, kids!

I know better than to trim my beard when I first wake up, but this morning, I did it anyway.

This explains my clean-shaven visage. I should look more like my bearded self in three weeks or so.

Simply put: I popped the guard off the trimmer to trim my neck this morning. When I replaced it, I decided to give the beard an overall trim as well. I did not make sure of the height of the guard; I normally trim at a 5 or a 6, but I plowed into my right cheek at a 1.

After I stopped swearing, I finished the job, leaving myself sideburns and nothing else. [Well, I still have hair on the top of my head. I did have the momentary thought to go all Yul Brenner, but I decided against it. It is almost November, after all.] I again look like the guy to the top left of this page, rather than the more correct visage on GFMorris.com.

After finishing the trim job, I actually used a razor on my cheeks and chin for the first time since July or August of ‘03.

You bet your ass I’ll pay attention next time.

Customer, 22 Sep: Do you have these washers?

Us, 22 Sep: Yes, we have them in stock.

Customer, 26 Oct, in reply to our 22 Sep reply: Do you have a copy of the shipping paper where these were sent to KSC?

Us, 26 Oct: Uhhhh, we never shipped these to KSC. We were never directed to do so.

Customer, 26 Oct: Can you ship them to KSC?

Us, 26 Oct: Can you give us contractual direction to do so? [Read: you sending me an email won't cut it.]

I love how disconnects like this happen. This is why you keep a paper trail.

I have now come to a weird point as a forum administrator: Web forums are starting to sour on me.

I’m sure that things will change when I’m not so freakin’ busy, but man … I just can’t justify the time I spend on it right now with so many other things going.

Cincinnati 23, Denver 13

All you Carson Palmer naysayers may get in line to kiss my ass.

I find it quite amusing that I slept far better last night on the couch than I had any night in the previous two weeks in my own bed.

Why, I think I’ve almost gotten my sleep cycle straightened out again.

Well, probably not. Conforming to a schedule has never really been my thing.

[Don't you love it when I call myself out and don't make you do it?]

Kerry Campaign Representative Continually Spreading Rumors About Shuttle Slowdown and Retirement.

Some might think that it’s silly for it to come down to this before me, but I find both options pretty distasteful. However, I will vote when there’s a direct threat to my pocketbook, and this would be it.

Remember the other day when I posted about the Brother Henry Live CD?

Next Saturday, October 30, beginning at the gentlemanly hour of 8 o’clock, Brother Henry will be recording a live album and DVD at The Basement in Nashville. It’s your chance to get that award-winning “WOOH!” digitally preserved for all time. Some of you have outstanding WOOHs, by the way; it would be a shame for there never to be a permanent record of it.

It being the night before Halloween, we’re summoning a monster crowd to create the perfect atmosphere. And we’re offering a special deal to this special group of “extras”: Cover is $7, but for another $5 you can pre-order the live CD (retail price $12), which should be done in time for Christmas. That’s $12 for $19 of value - a 36% savings!

But wait! There’s more! The first 5 people to respond to this e-mail with the message, “I’m a Brother Henry monster and I’ll be there to scream!” will get one free pass to the show - including the CD! Well heck, let’s ALSO draw, at random, RIGHT NOW, five instant winners from our massive database. Thanks to our bipartisan drawing committee, R2D2 and HAL 9000, who have reached across the aisle for this special moment…

R2D2: “Beep boop meep meep.”
HAL 9000: “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, Dave.”

And the winners are:
Allan Horner!
Geof Morris!
Catherine Favreau!
Park Ellis! Oh wait - he’s in the band. He has to pay.
Teri McElhaney!
Michael Dukes!

If you are one of these winners, e-mail us back and we’ll put your name on the guest list. (We’ll give you a free pre-order, too, if you just let us know you’re coming.)

Amy got this email as well and cackled a little when she saw I was listed.

Needless to say, I’m going. [Amy, if you want to go, I'll buy the gas!]

Believe.

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!

XM Radio will broadcast Major League Baseball for the next eleven seasons.

Starting with 2005 preseason play, XM will broadcast every major league game live. Some games will be broadcast in Spanish.

XM also said its new Major League Baseball Channel will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The channel will feature new content and rebroadcasts of classic baseball games.

“This is the crown jewel — the deal that we’ve been waiting for,” said Hugh Panero, CEO of Washington-based XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

Hell yes.

I’m glad that people enjoy community resources. Community resources are to be enjoyed and treasured, because they’re community-oriented.

However, barging in the front door of the community house and screaming, “I’ve seen that you people have cool stuff—GIMME!” is not the way to make the guy who oversees the community resources smile warmly and hand you stuff.

I fear that this is another manifestation of our desire to have what we want right now … and Lord knows I’m as guilty of that as anyone else.

Red Sox Nation may scream when they read this, but I honestly believe that the Sawx will win Game Seven tonight.

Heard just now from my lips: “I hate it when TV people do that! Don’t go from the singer’s microphone as your sole audio source, then halfway through the song add in the crowd mics to give you a sense of being at the park with all the reverb—it’s distracting! It’s disrespectful to the singer, too. No reverb or reverb, pick one at the start and f**king stick with it, will you?!”

I’m in a ranting mood today.

From Why Web Publishers Fear a Little Sharing:

“We use registration only where it makes sense to do so from a reader’s perspective,” explains Adrian Holovaty, lead developer of World Online, the Web division of The Lawrence Journal-World newspaper in Lawrence, Kan. “The classic example is on message boards and comment forms, where readers want to register so they can own the rights to their usernames — and, thus, their online reputations.”

Like I said: reputation matters.

[See also: I do not let things go.]

There’s a trend around today: if I disagree with you, you’re stupid.

I frequently see partisans on both sides of American politics call the other party’s Presidential candidate, or his policies, stupid. This is ingratiating.

I’m one of those annoying motherf**kers that thinks that you can disagree with someone and still respect them. I also think that you can disagree with someone’s position and still understand the basis of their argument.

Examplia gratis: taxation. Liberals generally argue that taxes should be higher so that social programs and infrastructure can be fully funded, increasing the overall well-being of the country. Conservatives generally argue that taxes should be lower so that more funds can be spent consuming and investing, increasing the overall well-being of the country.

Both sides reject the other’s approach, and they usually do it as saying that “it’s stupid”. You know what’s stupid? What’s stupid is not spending a little time looking into how the other person’s framed their arguments, what their presuppositions are, and getting down to an evaluation of the assumptions that fundamentally drive the argument.

A wise man—I know not who—once said, “The level of a man’s intelligence is proportional to the degree with which he agrees with me.” While that’s generally true, I’d rather work from the assumption that we’re all reasonably intelligent and can disagree.

Again, that makes me an annoying motherf**ker. Of course, hearing people call people they don’t like stupid annoys me. It’s the circle of life.

Geof: “You seen my new toy?”

Leonard [warily]: “That looks like a labelmaker.”

G: “That it is!”

L: “Oh, dear Lord.”

G: “It’s just a part of my effort to get organized.”

L: “What are you going to label?”

G [holds up box]: “File folders! Why, did you think I’d do anything else?”

L: “Yeah. If I come home one night and there are labels under the remote controls indicating where they’re supposed to go, like what Anthony used to do, I’m going to beat you in the head. Repeatedly.”

See, Ant-Dawg, you’re missed around here.

I was sitting here, talking with Susan about a variety of things, including her review of a recent Caedmon’s show. I said: “…[A]nd the funniest thing, I’ve linked to the Song Vault from IJSM.org long before I was ever involved.”

That’s true; I first found the [caedmonscall.net] Song Vault back in August 2002, and at the end of that month, I decided to link to it.

If I knew then what I was getting myself into … I’d probably have run screaming.

But it’s been good. Very good.

Some day this week, I have to get back on the horse of working on that while I’m doing other things on the computer, like, oh, the Great CD Preservation Project. Both projects require that I just chip away at it piece-by-piece.

I have regained mastery over my IM contact lists! PH34R M333333333333!

It’s sad what small things amuse me when I’m not feeling well.

After muddling my way through the Great CD Preservation Project for over a year now, I’ve decided to get a bit more organized about it. [pause for laughter]

I’ve come to a conclusion: my CD collection is out of control, although the GCPP is helping me get it under control. As it stands right now, I have over a hundred tasks in Tasks 2.0 alone dedicated to the GCCP, and that number grows higher all the time. Mind you, I’ve already completed a lot of these tasks, but in many cases, I have not.

In either regard, taming the collection is just proving to me how many CDs I own. It’s a scary figure.