Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • I Feel Professional

    Wow, Anil went and mentioned my class on the Six Apart Professional Network. That’s like getting your cat on the cover of Cat Fancy or something.\
    If you’re coming here from there, the class is for beginners, and covers basics like installation, editing and customizing templates, provides annotated copies of the default templates and goes over some useful/fun plugins. If you’re comfortable doing those things, then the class probably isn’t for you.

  • A Stunning Realization

    So, I’m cleaning out my old e-mail, deleting everything older than a year, and I just realized that in 2004, I received and stored (which means it’s not counting spam) over 24,000 pieces of e-mail to my work address, and over 1,400 (not counting things that get moved to other folders like listservs, comments on my site, breaking news, etc) to my personal e-mail addresses.\
    I have no way of knowing how much spam I got, but since my real-to-spam ratio on my personal address is about 1:4 (I have one address that just gets slammed) and on my AOL account, it’s probably 10:1, that’s almost 10,000 pieces of spam last year.\
    So, more than 25,400 pieces of e-mail passed through my inbox. That’s about 70 a day. I’m sure there are people who get more e-mail than I do, but wow. That’s just crazy. I can guarantee that I read all of them, and more than half required me to either send a response or do something. I’m surprised I do anything else.\
    If only I could figure out how many IM’s I got last year…

  • From One Nerd to Another

    Battlestar Galactica is coming back. Next week, they’re playing it on NBC, and on Sci-Fi. As a nerd who grew up as a huge Battlestar fan, PLEASE watch it. If you don’t watch it, at least TiVo it. Consider it a personal favor to me. I’ve seen the first five episodes (thank you, SkyOne and BitTorrent) of the new series, and it’s awesome (or, as Napoleon would say, sweet). It’s very well made, is a lot of fun, and seeing those Vipers again is like being seven all over again.\
    If we support good sci-fi, the networks will make more of it. The last great sci-fi show to be on a regular network, Firefly, died too soon. Let’s not let the same thing happen to this one (and if anyone wants to come over next week, the Battlestar mini-series should show up – I missed it the first time it was on because I was out of the country).\
    I’m begging you. Please watch it or TiVo it. Come on, for me?

  • Bloggie Nominations

    I figured that since I spent so much time on this list, I should share it. If you have your own list o’ faves, go nominate them.\
    Here are my nominations. If I left out a category, it’s because I didn’t nominate anyone for that category. Reviewing the list, it looks like Dooce and Photodude are my favorite blogs, and that’s pretty much true. Here’s the rest of the list:

  • Christmas Thoughts

    When you have a five year-old, Christmas is more about damage control and survival than pondering on the birth of our Savior. Max had a complete meltdown Christmas Eve that involved a lot of crying, declarations of love and then some sleeping. He was fine on Christmas morning, but he’s been a bit of a loose cannon the past week or so. Christmas is too much, too built up, too all-encompassing and for too long. It’s also probably impossible to change it, what with the stores putting up Christmas decorations before our Thanksgiving turkey is even purchased, and Santa showing up all over the place before all the leaves are off the trees.\
    Not that I don’t like Christmas. I really, really do. I love finding the right present for the people I love, and I get all excited to see their faces when they open presents. But, it’s one day. There shouldn’t be two months of build-up, three weeks of insane specials and commercials on TV that get our kids all wound up to the point that they break before the day even gets here.\
    I’m not sure what to do. Maybe we’ll go on TV-sabbatical the week before Christmas, just to avoid all the hype. But, we still have to go to the grocery store, to church, etc…\
    All in all, we had a really good Christmas. Max got to open two kids’ worth of presents (Brian hasn’t quite got it yet, and was more interested in eating the boxes than playing with new toys), we had ham, and got to hang out with the family. Max and I got new video games, which we’re having lots of fun with (Ratchet & Clank 3 and Paper Mario), and I have this week off.\
    OK, maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all. Still, I could do without the crying.

  • Best Search Term Ever

    Guess who’s number one for best poop ever. Yup, it’s me. Check out The Best Poop Story Ever\
    Man, I love search engines. They provide never ending entertainment.

  • I BUY LOCAL

    I told you last week (or was it early this week) that I had more thoughts about buying local. Well, it’s ready (and I did it at lunch today while eating chili). I present to you, my faithful friends and family: I BUY LOCAL. Right now, it’s just that first post, but I’m hoping it blossoms into a group blog full of local business-supporting goodness. I’ve already got one blogger lined up to help me (when he “officially” joins up and posts something, I’ll let ya know), and am looking for more.\
    It’s not going to be a big thing, just a small thing that will hopefully help someone realize that where they get their goods and services from does make a difference. Thinking, even just a little bit, about who’s affected by the money we put into the community is a start. I know I’ve just started.\
    If you’re interested in helping out (we’ll have stickers soon), let me know (kevin-at-ibuylocal.info).

  • Blogging With Movable Type

    You know, if you know someone who wants to learn about blogging, get one set up and learn how to customize it , my class at Eclectic Academy on Movable Type would be a swell Christmas present. Only \$20 for six weeks of online classes, and lots of hands on helps from me? I mean, come on… that’s a deal.\
    Or, not. You know, it’s up to you.

  • Comment Spam-o-rama

    This will probably get me spammed, but I’ve been reading a lot the past few days (here, here and here, and the MT Pro list) about the horrors of comment spam, and how evil comment spam spiders are crawling sites for the path to mt-comments.cgi and then spamming the crap out of it. Me? I don’t really have a problem with comment spam. How I’ve been able to avoid it up to this point, I’m not really sure. I have several blogs, and none of them have been hit by more than one or two comment spams in their long lives (three years now for Ultranormal, two for Geekout and almost two for the photo gallery).\
    But, I’m getting serious with the preventative medicine. I haven’t implemented all of these things, but I have done some of them:

    • Don’t install Movable Type in the cgi-bin if your host allows it.
    • Rename mt-comments.cgi (and update the CommentScript line in mt.cfg, removing the # in front of it).
    • Use javascript to write out the form action on your comments form. That way, they can’t spider for the location of your comments script (well, make sure the function to do this is in a linked javascript). All of these javascript options screw people who have javascript turned off, but there are sacrifices we have to make.
    • Use javascript to write out your comments. This way, they won’t be indexed by search engines, and you’re removing the benefit of spamming you.
    • Use javascript to open your comment popup window. The one I use uses the entry id, and has the comment script in the linked script – so, again, it’s not easily spiderable.
    • Use the Moderate plugin to close comments on old entries. This gives the spammers fewer available targets.\
      I wrote a tutorial for doing a few of those. I’ll update it to add the form action bit and probably post it to Geekout in the near future.\
      To me, the real problem here is that Movable Type’s default templates are vulnerable out of the box. Maybe if the default template set was a little more protected, comment spam wouldn’t be such a problem. I know the train has kind of left the station on this, since there’s already a huge installed base of people probably using slightly modified versions of the default templates. But, for future versions, a lot of these changes could be included in the default, protecting the vulnerable “newbie” from themselves.

  • Minimize Me

    I can write about this now because it’s working. Have you seen Super Size Me Well, I rented it shortly after it came out on DVD, and it’s changed how I eat. After watching it, Jen and I both decided to completely cut out fast food. So, for the past three months or so, no McD’s, Chik-fil-a, Wendy’s, BK, KFC or Taco Bell. We initially thought it would be difficult because there are those nights where making dinner just seems impossible. But, it’s worked. I haven’t even really been tempted, and I used to eat McD’s, at least for breakfast, at least twice a week.\
    It’s worked so well, that I’m back dieting again, and have lost twenty pounds in the last two months. I’m down to my lowest weight since I started trying to diet (I think it was two years ago, but it could have been just one). I now weigh less than most NFL linemen, and I’m inching closer to middle linebacker.\
    If you haven’t seen it yet, go rent it. Or, better yet, buy it and loan it to all your friends. It’s amazing the things we’re convinced to put in our bodies, and how our food gets to us. If you get the DVD, you should really watch the Smoking Fry bit, and Morgan’s interview with Eric Schlosser (who wrote Fast Food Nation).\
    We also signed up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Great Country Farms. Max and I went there in August and had a great time. Their produce is excellent, and I can’t wait to get it every week next year.\
    Dieting is a lot easier when it’s for something. When it’s not self-deprivation, but for a reason, it’s a whole lot easier. I think I’ll be able to keep the weight off this time (because now, even when I’m not paying attention to what I eat, I’m not gaining anything back, and am still losing weight). It’s not a diet, it’s just how I eat now, which feels great. That isn’t to say we don’t go out anymore. We do, and I still splurge on the occasional country-fried steak. But, we do it at restaurants, not fast food places. On top of that, we try to eat at locally owned places when possible. We eat at Linda’s or Amphora instead of IHOP. We go to Emilio’s when we want good pizza (and boy, it’s good). I’ve got more to say about the local business thing… a whole new project I’m working on (very slowly… keep getting interrupted).\
    So… go watch it. It’ll change you.