Spam Thus Far – The Thing That Wouldn’t Die

April 30th, 2013

fuck a bird

Since the last spam comment roundup, there have been plenty of developments which I will reveal to you over time. As I noted before, I implemented a system that requires commenters to solve a basic math equation before their comment will be posted. It worked for quite a while but eventually I had a new influx of spam comments and even new users (including one named brainbreath… just thought that was funny). This might be a new level of smart spambots. Less jogos, more “Nike Blazers” and “brainbreath” and one or two “Jones sabo you didn’t qualification for that father hedge usd manageress unsafe

Either way, the results have been occasionally entertaining. While I intend to shake up the formula soon, here’s just a teaser of what I’ve been seeing… Read the rest of this entry »

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Sugar-Coated Subjectivity

April 25th, 2013

I think bipartisanship is an extension of apathy. I think apathy is an extension of fear.

While I’ve never believed that the necessity of rational self-interest could be logically derived from the general objectivity of reality, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t agree to some degree with Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. It’s one of those uncomfortable truths people at both ends (and, in my opinion, especially in the middle) of the political spectrum struggle with every day as the evidence accumulates.

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The Factory Opens its Doors Once Again

April 22nd, 2013

Lately I’ve been asking myself whether I’m a Duke or a Dimwit. I’ve blogged before about the choices we make that define us (an original topic, I’m sure) and have since wasted plenty of time I could have been using to make choices that define me. I’ve done a lot of things and made a lot of choices over the last few months, but it’s hard to say many of those choices were defining. I suppose one could argue that all choices are in some way defining because they are the choices we’d make under whatever circumstances we are under. I’m even a firm believer in the notion that humans are governed by the same animal instincts as any other species, however complex, but it’s fair to say I have the potential to make more productive choices.

Anyway, here’s another thing a friend posted on Facebook that I’d like to respond to but figured I’d be entering too much enemy territory… Enjoy!

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Through the Boilerplate and What Mark Found There

January 3rd, 2013

Jacob Morris, an internet friend I met through osu!, just released an ambitious new album titled “Boilerplate”. Considering I got to hear much of it throughout the course of its production, I figured I’d give it a brief review here. Keep in mind I am no musical expert.

Harmless Minor

Although I was sent this song a while back when it was incomplete, it was the last track on the album that I got to hear in its completed form. Due to its heavy funk influences, I fell for it instantly. It is apparently a collaborated effort. I see it as one of the strongest tracks of the album.

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This is Not the Death of Hope

December 15th, 2012

Perhaps my sense of rational optimism is born of confirmation bias, but here’s a jumbled bundle of thoughts.

In an age where “No Hope For the Human Race” has over one million likes on Facebook, it’s not easy being rational about hope. With events like yesterday’s shooting at an elementary school, this sense of surrender is not entirely unjustified. I’m not sure there’s a word in the English language for the feelings that went around after the news spread, but I think The Onion did the best job of describing it. It’s a new height of hopelessness and disgust that we’ve never quite confronted before, even in previous shootings, and many of us are just not sure what to do with it.

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