2004 January

MT-Blacklist Updated To 1.63

Just saw that Jay Allen has updated the fantastic plugin for Movabletype, MT-Blacklist, to version 1.63. This version supports the latest version of Movabletype 2.661, and incorporates these changes/additions:

• Fully compatible with Movable Type version 2.661
• Added arbitrary text/regexp to despam search
• Added NO FILTER to despam search to get LastN comments/trackbacks

If you’re using Movabletype, this plugin is highly required, as it helps you to fight back the comment spammers that has been coming out of the woodworks.

Hey Ya, Charlie Brown!

Charlie Brown is kickin’ it with Outkast in Hey Ya! Really hilarious, and put together very well. It’s funny to see the Peanuts gang gettin’ it on with modern hits. Quicktime is required to see the video, which is about 8MB. If you want to download the file directly, instead of watching it embedded in the browser, grab it here.

Update: They got a cease and desist from the lawyers, so they took it down. I did found a mirror. You can see it here now.

She Wore Beauty In Her Eyes

She wore beauty in her eyes:

Click to enlarge this picture

The Darkness Rocks

Finally my generation has a Led Zeppelin, classic rock with balls to the walls riffs - The Darkness. They’re from London, and their new album, Permission To Land has gone platinum 4 times in the U.K. They’re getting some major attention here in the States too, with word that their live shows are spectacular. I got the album today and have been really enjoying it. It’s good to hear good old rock and roll that wasn’t born in the 70’s or 80’s. Think classic Led Zeppelin rock infused with hair band 80’s rock, toss in AC/DC’s energy, then mix in some modern influence, and that’s The Darkness. Very good stuff.

Tricks For More Usable Forms

Sitepoint has a new excellent article up today, from Simon Willison, taking a look at how to make forms more usable, utilizing simple little tricks that go a long way. Using a little bit of javascript, and intelligent CSS, forms can make a visitor’s job a little easier when they have to use it. This can go a long way towards giving a better impression towards your site(s).

Linkpool And XHTML Strict Validation

I’m trying to figure out how to make the Linkpool PHP script (shown to the right in the Links section) to use the Movabletype plugin, SafeHref. This would effectively fix URL’s that break XHTML 1.0 Strict validation, such as those that has “&” in them. If anybody knows how to make it work, please let me know. I’ll, in turn, post an update on here if I figure it out.

Update: Mark Christian, the creator of Linkpool, has made it so that the & symbol is converted into the proper entity, thus not breaking validation. Thanks Mark!

RIAA Sues 532 More People

Yahoo News reports the RIAA is getting busy again, this time suing 532 people. The only problem is that they have no idea who they’re suing. They’ve labelled each person they’re suing as “John Doe”. The RIAA are looking more and more like the scared bunny rabbit facing an oncoming truck, frozen by the bright beams, inevitably to be ran over. This is the digital music revolution, either work with it, or move out of the way. Suing people won’t be the solution to the problem, all it is doing is slowing down the bleeding, but eventually they’re going to run out of blood to thrive on.

” The RIAA said that after its lawyers discover the identity of each defendant, they will contact each person to negotiate a financial settlement before amending the lawsuit to formally name the defendant and, if necessary, transfer the case to the proper courthouse. Settlements in previous cases have averaged $3,000 each.”

I hope they don’t end up suing a bunch of 12 year old girls again. I doubt they’ll be so lucky.