Author Archives: tony

And so it begins

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Depending on the time of day and the direction the wind blows, this site is now 4th or 5th on Google if you search for perception is truth, and second if you search for “perception is truth”.  Google is fickle so those positions will change over time naturally.  Obviously, individual posts that are slowly showing up on Google have different page ranks and show up in different locations.  But the spam comments have finally begun.

This is both good and bad, it means the site can now be found on Google, maybe even by people ((although as a personal blog I have no idea what value finding it might bring)) and of course it means that robots and automated spamination machines can find it and start posting comments.

So far, Akismet (the default spam plugin for WordPress) has spotted the 14 spam comments and I haven’t been forced to deal with them.  I was amused to find which posts they latched onto.  The last 11 comments were all attached to the post I made about recipe books.  They all link to a single cookery website (according to the URL, I never visited to check).  Two insurance links on my post about Bacon Cobs (!), and so far a lone single mortgage spam (geddit, lone? loan?) on my post about being in positive equity.

As long as Akismet keeps catching the spam, I find the whole thing quite amusing and the stats/analysis quite interesting.  Obviously, once the load is so high that my bandwidth suffers or that I have to start manually dealing with the spam I’ll be less amused, but for now it’s ok.

Comment etiquette

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So, comments.  If you leave comments and I reply, do you come back and read them?  Would you prefer if I replied as a blog posting so it’s more obvious I replied?  Do you use the comments RSS feed to track replies?

I’m stuck on comment etiquette.

4th Edition D&D – First thoughts

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So I’ve read the PHB (Players Handbook) now, a first pass, taking in the major elements needed to create a new character.

  • It’s dissapointing to see so many typographical errors present.
  • Wow, is it me or is the section on Wizards, spells / powers and spell books hugely over complex or under-explained?

Once a roleplayer, always a roleplayer

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After not doing any tabletop roleplaying for a good number of years, I was thinking of selling the 80plus rule books, modules, expansions and add-ons that are taking up space.  I thought I was over it all.

And then some friends asked if we wanted to start up a little D&D group again, and we thought ‘yeh sure’.

So I ordered the 4th edition rulebook from Amazon, and it arrived.

And the excitement I experienced opening it and reading it is undiminished since I first opened the Red Basic D&D edition rules when I was in my mid-teens.

Hey America – You guys have to let me vote as well

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We approach the American Presidential Election, in case you hadn’t noticed, and we’re down to the last two runners.  America, you have to let us vote as well.

I wonder how many Americans realise their choice of president affects the rest of the world as well as their own country?  It really does make a difference.  When America delicately involves itself in world affairs, the choice of president has a huge effect on how that involvement plays out.  Who’s the government ruler of Belgium?  Anyone?  How about The Netherlands?  Who can name whoever has been elected in Australia or even Canada?

I can’t.  Sure, I could find out, and if you live there I bet you have a good chance of knowing.  And if you follow world affairs more closely than I do, I’m sure you’ll know.

But who’s president of America?  Who’s in the running?  I bet plenty of people all over the world know those names.  I admit, much of that is because American news companies dominate international news production, but it’s also because it is going to affect us.  It does affect us.

The issue that I think some Americans don’t realise is that there are only a few countries who’s leadership choice has a potentially truly global impact.  Have a think about those countries, if you live in America, have a think about the company you’re in.  Russia, Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, America.  You’re not just voting for your own president.

You’re voting to tell the world how America will place itself in the next 4-12 years.  How America will behave in the international arena.  How America will handle conflict.  How America will handle global issues.  You’ve amassed a fortune in people, resources and power.  Now you have to learn how to use it responsibly in a global stage.

Good luck.  I hope you make the right choice for yourselves and for everyone else.

Blathering

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So I’m not feeling so well today.  As I already blogged, up early feeling sick, but I had a 2 hour meeting that I really needed to be at, at work.  I went in late, attended that and then came home again and then slept until around 4:30pm.  I still feel pretty crap but not quite on the same scale.  I get little waves of nausia every now and then and have to be careful not to drink tea too quickly.

I only recently discovered the pure delight of Google Reader (or any RSS reader for that matter) even though I sort of knew I should be doing it.  It wasn’t until I found a few sites I really wanted to follow that only had a few postings a day at most that it really came into its own.  Before, I’d try to use it for Slashdot or the BBC News site, but there’s so much stuff being publised there daily that I just used to click ‘mark all read’ and move on.  So anyway, found some sites I enjoy reading and using Google Reader.  Thought I’d share some random stuff.

Most of these sites I’ve found either through friends, or through cross-linking on a small number of sites initially and I often have no clue who the people writing them are, I read them for the articles anyway.

So anyway, I’m to about 57 subscriptions and I need to go down the links on Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men and check out some of those (since her blog links to some stuff I already read, so they may be my taste too).  I have LifeHacker and Fark RSS feeds, they generate a tonne of links every day and sometimes I read them, and othertimes I just hit mark as read.

And now it’s 7:40pm and I need to find something to eat which doesn’t disagree with me too much.

Mythbusters viral-video special

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Mythbusters are doing a viral video special and have posted on youtube asking for people to link to videos they want debunked, the best will be chosen for the show.  I thought it would be useful to track the posted video because the responses should contain some nice links to a load of random mythical stuff on youtube.

Queasy

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Woke up at 4:30am in a cold sweat feeling pretty sick.  You’ll be pleased to know I haven’t been sick (yet), but we’re both still awake and I’m trying to take my mind off the messages my stomach is sending to my brain.

Also, love the pullout quotes, thanks to Mr Artiss for pointing that one out.