With great comment spam deterrents such as this, we don’t need the rel=nofollow :)

Accessibility issues aside (for the visually impaired–which is a problem with all CAPTCHAs) — this goes beyond language and understanding barriers, i believe.

On binary bonsai, some great comments about google’s motivation beyond rel=nofollow. I personally think that if rel=nofollow is implemented on future blog versions, the motivation behind comment spam will decrease the chances that people will even care to do so. On the other hand, the whole comment spam problem was just about Google(and other major engine)’s fault to begin with.

Carla (and commenters) share their experience with the various online movie rental services. we used netflix for a spell, and really enjoyed it, but i wasn’t at home enough to justify its existence, and wifey kept forgetting to turn back in stuff on time (yeah i’m blaming it on you).

i got hoodwinked into one of their programs, i really didn’t even know what it was then, nor do i know what it is now, but i paid $9.99 for it, and got some free rental tokens for non-new movies, and a gang of late charges afterwards.

to their credit, our blockbuster is offering the No Late Fees joint.

I hadn’t come across this one before; wifey sent it to me from one of her mailing lists. Just viewing the pictures were compelling me to continue to give. It’s a helpful reminder when i “forget” that its still as devastating.

Tsunami Damage Pictures

Anita, our group leader, wasn’t feeling well, so she had her husband do the hosting duties–it went very well, although she was missed.

i put up a few pics of the event i took, with our temporary replacement non-zoom 50mm lens. :(

met quite a few interesting people including Jeff Barr, and found out where the world tara had been. I was pleased to catch mikey there–i’m such a fan. :)

thanks ralphs for the bomb chicken salad sandwich.

*pic doesn’t appear in the gallery, because it looks like garbage full-size–but i couldn’t just omit it!

It was a chair massage.

I recommend it to everyone on the planet of Earth.

Wow.

That’s what it took for me to see that everything has changed (again). This particular skin is based on some photos i took, and particularly a deviation i have on deviant art.

The blogger meetup was a grip of fun. I didn’t have the zoom lens tonight, so i was floundering around trying to figure out picture taking with our temp lens. This place is the most fun i ever have just hanging out and just talking–no aim, just chatting. Had a great conversation with someone discussing his (surprising) role at a tech company doing builds with Ant and Perl.

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Google helping prevent/deter comment spam

This is excellent on Google’s part. The reason comment spam exists is partially (i’d say primarily) because it heightens a pages “authority”, bumping it up in search results.

Of course, this means that all you cats who try to increase relevance by “legitimately” posting comments in others blogs will get no benefit.

hopefully someone will come along and help us retrofit our current comments with this attribute (so i won’t have to write something ;).

off to the doctor today. i’ve had headaches for several months, maybe a year now, and recently Fleeting Tiny Chest Pains. everytime i’m checked out, things are just fine though. i hope to ultimately quash any paranoia i may be harbouring about having a tumor (It’s not a toommah) , but who knows–it’s at least a reason for me to ask Yahweh to help those crummy thoughts to stop bugging me. Most of the time i feel neither bad nor worse (take now for example) — i’m glad i remembered to make my appointment while i was feeling bad. i have a tendency to quickly forget how often i feel out of order. For my family’s sake, however, i don’t want to all of a sudden keel over and die due to something i could have prevented.

My personal partial diagnosis is a sound lack of sleep coupled with bad diet.

Seattle blogger meetup is tonight. don’t forget. it’s always hopping.

but she gets props for bravery and…hubris

[AL]

Remix of NWA’s “Straight outta Compton” (mp3)

someone needs to tell her it’s “down with *the* capital CPT” (i.e. Compton, California, USA) though.

from the wtf non-category:
allegedly from a 1983 teen beat mag spread.

sorry to give you the bad dreams.

update: i added “allegedly” early this morning thinking to myself “this couldn’t possibly be from a magazine…why would they?”

as of this morning, snopes.com has the scoop.