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technical A Turing Test is a test which determines if the party on the other end of a remote communication is a human or a computer program (also known as a ‘Captcha‘ (qv)). This is germane to blogging because many comment sections on blogs use non-machine readable systems prevent spambots from entering comment spam. August 9th, 2004 | Comments are closed
 noun. ‘Spam’ is unsolicited online messages generally of a commercial nature, usually delivered as e-mail (i.e. virtual junk mail). Comment spam however is when someone posts off-topic commercial remarks with links in a blog’s comment section. Some comment spam is overt but just as often it takes the form of innocuous remarks such as “I agree with your article!” or “Hey, great site!” in a blog’s comment section: the spammer’s ‘payload’ being in the personal details link, which takes you to a dubious (often pornographic) site. One reason comment spam is a major problem is that if readers visit the spammer’s link(s), their site often tries to install browser hijackers, tracking cookies or other adware/malware on the duped reader’s computer. Most comment spam is entered by spambots rather than actually people. Increasingly blogs are using technical means such as Turing tests, pre-publish moderation or registration in order to prevent spambots from polluting their comments sections with Viagra ads, online pharmacy scams and links to Russian porn sites. August 9th, 2004 | Comments are closed
The fighting in Iraq has flared up again and most of the people getting killed appear to be Islamists, which is just fine by me. I cannot but wonder if the Islamists thought that if they just kept on slugging away, the Brits and US would just fold up and slink off, leaving them to impose an theocratic ‘paradise’ on Iraq. The fact that Moqtada al-Sadr is offering a return to a truce is both a good sign and an excellent reason to do nothing of the sort but rather escalate efforts to kill him and his supporters. I suspect that is indeed what is going to happens and moreover I think that the US and UK governments will stay the course regardless of who wins the elections in the USA. Seeing Iraq ‘go Islamic’ would be too much even for the dismal Kerry to want to have happen on his watch. Likewise for the Tory party in Britain, should they somehow miraculously contrive to defeat Blair at some point in the future. Come to think of it, that is yet another reason not to bother voting next time: the hard decisions have already been made and the course is now set. The politics become even easier if another Al-Qaeda ‘leaker’ like September 11th gets through on either side of the North Atlantic. The equally dismal Bush already did the heavy lifting in Afghanistan and Iraq and now it is just a case of taking on targets of opportunity. As for the Brits, I doubt any future Tory government would be any better or worse regarding the on-going hollowing out of Britain’s fading military capabilities, so no real choices are on offer there either. The West, well the Anglosphere bits at least, will continue to oppose Islamists like Al-Qaeda for the foreseeable future regardless of the supine predilections of the Guardian, Independent and New York Times reading classes and it does not much matter whose face is on the portraits in the US and UK embassies. August 6th, 2004 | 22 comments - (Comments are closed)
Gibraltar remains a British colony to the overwhelming relief of its 27,833 inhabitants. Yet they are well aware that the reason Geoff Hoon, Britain’s dismal defence minister, yesterday attended the 300th anniversary of Britain’s capture of The Rock has little to do with any great enthusiasm for the people on The Rock or a deep commitment for retaining Gibraltar, but rather a disinclination to ‘make nice’ with Spain due to its policies regarding Islamic terrorism and Iraq. In fact members of both the ‘tranzi left’ and ‘paleo right’ see Gibraltar as a weird anachronism and despite those groups fetishising their minor differences, both have a shared collectivist meta-context and think nothing of what the inhabitants of The Rock wish for themselves. If the Gibraltarians were wise, they would let it be known that they are prepared to go all the way and exercise a ‘dooms day’ option of Unilateral Declaration of Independence if the political class in Britain ever decide to ‘give’ Gibraltar away: the battalion sized Gibraltar Regiment should simply take up arms with whoever will rally to the red and white flag, and man their border with bayonets fixed. Of course it is unlikely a militia army in Gibraltar could hold off a serious military move by Spain, though success against the odds is not without precedent, but would Spain actually be prepared to fight for 27,833 people who simply do not want to be Spanish? I realise that is indeed what the Spanish state is doing in the Basque parts of Spain but this is a rather different proposition and unlike in the Basque country, there is no friendly constituency in Gibraltar who sees Spanish sovereignty as in any way tolerable. A Spanish takeover would be nothing less that a colonial occupation of an unwilling population. People have to be prepared to literally fight for the things they value and if the people of Gibraltar made it clear that in the final analysis they would be willing to do exactly that, perhaps the chattering classes in both Spain and August 5th, 2004 | 30 comments - (Comments are closed)
The Social Affairs Units has a great new digital publication called How to Maximise Your Expenses: Advice to new Members of the European Parliament. Funny? For sure, but read it and weep. August 2nd, 2004 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
…which explains the meagre output on the blog today. Not a ‘blogger bash’, just a party. The excuse for this bash was the visit of American writer and journalist Nancy Rommelmann and her charming daughter Tafv 
Nancy listens to a lecture on why she needs to drink more Pimms
Some of the guests were surprised to hear there was not going to be a Frisbee throwing contest
Antoine was astonished to see proof that there is indeed a martial art associated with barbeque tools
The Three Furies seems rather mellow after imbibing significant amounts of Pimms
We have no idea who these two people are but they just appeared out of the gathering gloom like apparitions and ate all the fish July 31st, 2004 | 15 comments - (Comments are closed)
noun. A type of collaborative on-line software that allows readers to add content on a subject, which can also be edited by others. For example: Wikipedia. The major difference between a blog and a wiki is that a blog is more directly under the control of the owner(s) and the primary objective of a blog is for the owner(s) to express themselves to their target audience. A wiki on the other hand is about collaboration (in a general sense) rather than expressing views. Wiki definition included as many people have asked us to describe the difference between a blog and a wiki. July 30th, 2004 | Comments are closed
noun. A blog set up for only a limited period to cover some event (for example the E3 Games Convention). Event blogs are often commercial in nature. July 29th, 2004 | Comments are closed
July 29th, 2004 | Comments are closed
noun. A company blog (or ‘Biz Blog’) set up to handle a public relations crisis for a company or institution. This can be either to handle internal communications or to allow a company to present its side of a story in a frank, credible and timely manner when a situation is developing rapidly. July 29th, 2004 | Comments are closed
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