The Blog From Another DimensionLiving in Japan and commenting on culture, politics, news, personal experiences and hamsters.Officially Switching Over- August 21, 2007 This will be the last post on the Movable Type version of this blog. If you are reading this, and want to read the continuing and updated blog, then got to http:www.blogd.comwp. At least for a while, that is where the new blog will be located. I may leave it there indefinitely, or I may move it back to the main directory and erase the Movable Type blog at some point. Comments are no longer possible on the Movable Type site. I have made a note of this on (I hope) every blog post I have. If you...http://www.blogd.com/archives/002675.html Wow, It Might Actually Be Happening!- August 21, 2007 I seem to actually be having success switching the blog. A variety of factors helped, which I'll go into later. But if you are interested in seeing the new locale while I work on it ,please go ahead and see it here....http://www.blogd.com/archives/002674.html Whack-a-Mole Spambots and WordPress Migration- August 20, 2007 One of the issues that I have been dealing with is how to defeat the spammers. One way to do this in Movable Type is the change the name of the comment script from time to time. This seems to work, but only very temporarily. Even instantly, a lot of spammers' software detects the new name (probably once it fails to execute the script once) and just resets with the new script address. Some spammers seem to be set on long-term autopilot, however. I have changed the name of my comments script...http://www.blogd.com/archives/002673.html Yes- August 19, 2007 Walking to the station the other day, a brief question-and-answer Sachi and I shared reminded me of an interesting linguistic difference between English and Japanese. Wanting to know which route we should take, I asked, "Do we go straight ahead, or turn left" Sachi answered, "Yes." I laughed, but I understood: we turn left. I have encountered this before in Japan: when asking a binary "A or B" question, the answer "Yes" means the latter is correct. To an..http://www.blogd.com/archives/002672.html Comments May Go Offline- August 18, 2007 Apparently I am under a full-on massive spam attack, and Movable Type is not helping; my web host continues to press me to switch to WordPress, threatening to shut me down. I have been planning such a switch for a while now, and for the past week have been prepping--despite having a full load of work for my school, plus other plans made long before which cannot be cancelled. Still, the change may not come fast enough--and so my web host may shut down the comments script while I am away over the.http://www.blogd.com/archives/002671.html Makes Ya Dizzy- August 18, 2007 There have been several recent announcements of Republican members of Congress who will not be running this election year, former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert being the most notable. There are at least 6 GOP no-shows for the House so far, and one for the Senate (possibly two if Pete Dominici's health falters). It signals a disastrous turn for the GOP, as it likely means that the GOP will lose several seats to Democratic challengers. They're in particular trouble in Ohio, where Rep. Pryce...http://www.blogd.com/archives/002670.html Jingu Gaien Fireworks- August 17, 2007 For what may be the last big fireworks show we'll see this year, Sachi and I had an excellent view. The Tokyo Bay fireworks were occluded by some building in the way (the "Jama Towers"), and we just plain missed several others. But Thursday, they had one more show over the sports stadiums over in Jingu Gaien. This one did not have any big, high-altitude bursts that grace the ending of many shows, as it was over land, not water. Still, the location was in our direct line of sight,...http://www.blogd.com/archives/002669.html Justice Is Blind to Bias, Not to the Law- August 17, 2007 Jose Padilla has been found guilty in a court of law today. To be perfectly frank, I have no real understanding of whether he is guilty of the charges against him or not; he could be innocent, or he could be guilty. I don't know that aspect of the case well enough to judge. Maybe he was a terrorist in training, for all I know. However, that is not the aspect of the case which I find most important; it is, rather, the way his case was handled and the impact it has on the rights, freedoms and...http://www.blogd.com/archives/002668.html Bits &38; Pieces, 8162007- August 16, 2007 In any large population, there will always be a criminal element; therefore, it is inevitable that crimes, including horrific ones, will always surface where the perpetrator is of whatever group or category that you wish to imagine. So it should come as no surprise that a murder case has come up where one of the suspects is an illegal immigrant. So Newt Gingrich, who is sometimes able to say things reasonable enough that you can momentarily forget that he's a loon (and a Republican presidential.http://www.blogd.com/archives/002667.html Skype Stuff- August 15, 2007 Skype still works fine, and the latest version has an incredibly useful feature: echo cancellation. In the past, you had to use headphones when using Skype, else your voice emanating from the other person's speakers would re-enter the microphone and come back as an annoying delayed echo, making it hard to speak. The new echo cancellation works great, making "speaker-phone" conversations comfortable and clear. My parents have started their annual visit to their cabin on an island north.http://www.blogd.com/archives/002666.html |