Archive for 9/25/2004

MT/WP anti-spam tricks

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2539 days
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The following is a trick to prevent spamming by bots in Movable Type 2.x. While this blog doesn’t run MT, several other blogs I manage still do, and I have found this to be a surprisingly effective method to disable automated spam bots.
Rename the post field in your MT templates from “post” to something else. You will have to do this in all of your templates that have a comment form. Then go to MT\App\Comments and on line 29 modify the “post” value to your new field name. Whatever you do, if you use MT, be sure to get the latest version of MT-Blacklist. (This tactic can be used with almost any scripted comment system, if you aren’t afraid to get into its guts and redo changes after updating.)

Now a tip for WordPress users: unless you get frequent legitimate comments with many links, lower the default value of links allowed without moderation at Options ->Discussion->Comment Moderation. You can then use the “Mass Edit Mode” to delete spam posts. Also be sure to update your default spam word lists from the WP-Wiki.

China and global trade in the 21st Century

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2539 days
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In an overdue development, China and Russia are developing a “strategic partnership of cooperation, particularly in the economic and trade sector.” The “partnership” may be historically significant it leads to a lowering of trade barriers that encourages trade between China and Russia, which is currently around $20-$30 billion – the highest in history, but very low compared other nations, such as the U.S., with over $100 billion. (That is up from virtually $0 since Nixon opened up trade in 1972.) This may a strategic step in the creation of a worldwide market centered on the U.S. and China – our best bet for making the 21st century less bloody then the previous. The fact that John Kerry is more likely to push trade restrictions is one of the few reasons (few because both candidates are pathetic) that make him a worse candidate– and make his presidency is more likely to lead to war, despite all his talk of “alliances.”

The question of China and Russia’s transition from a socialist dictatorship to a market economy recently prompted this forum post from me: (more…)

Gallery Update

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2539 days
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I have updated my gallery, and added an RSS feed so you can keep up with future updates automatically.

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