Backlink

I've been using a PHP backlinking script from Laze.Net for a while now to show the referrers to my site. Unfortunately, the script hasn't been updated to reflect changes in Yahoo's new search string. So, I updated the string parsing code to correctly show the search terms. You can find the code below.

Warning: Adding recent referrs to your blog has some interesting consequences, which you may want to consider before making them publicly visible.

PHP:

---


$recentfile = "backlink.txt";
$mydomain = "rationalmind.net";
$displaynum = 10;
$displaychar = 30;




$recent = file($recentfile);

$start = 0;

$amount = count($recent);


if ($amount >= $displaynum) {

    $start = 1;

    $amount = $displaynum;

}

for ($x = ($amount-1); $x >= 0; $x--) {


    if (eregi("google.", $recent[$x]) || eregi("search.msn.", $recent[$x]) ||


            eregi("atomz.com", $recent[$x]) || eregi("lycos.", $recent[$x]) || eregi("yahoo.", $recent[$x]) ||


            eregi("altavista.", $recent[$x])) {

        if (eregi("google.yahoo", $recent[$x])  ) {  


            list($first, $rest) = split("p=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("lycos.", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("query=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("q=&q=", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("q=&q=", $recent[$x]);

        } elseif (eregi("yahoo.", $recent[$x])) {


            list($first, $rest) = split("p=", $recent[$x]);

        } else {

            list($first, $rest) = split("q=", $recent[$x]);


        }

        list($temp, $toss) = split("&", $rest);



        $temp = eregi_replace ("+", " ", $temp);


        $temp = eregi_replace ("%22", "\"", $temp);

        $temp = eregi_replace ("%27", "'", $temp);


        $temp = eregi_replace ("%26", "&", $temp);

        $temp = eregi_replace ("%20", " ", $temp);


        if (eregi("atomz.com", $recent[$x])) {

            echo "<b>ls: </b> ";


        } else {

            echo "<b>s: </b> ";

        }

        echo "<a href=\"" . rtrim($recent[$x]) . "\">" . substr($temp, 0, $displaychar - 3);


        if (strlen($temp) > $displaychar - 3) {

            echo "...";

        }

        echo "</a><br />\n";


    } else {

        $temp = rtrim(substr((eregi_replace("www.", "", $recent[$x])), 7, $displaychar));


        echo "<a href=\"" . rtrim($recent[$x]) . "\">" . $temp;

        if (strlen($temp) > $displaychar - 1) {


            echo "...";

        }

        echo "</a><br />\n";

    }

}

$recent[$amount] = $HTTP_REFERER . "\n";


if ($HTTP_REFERER && !(eregi($mydomain, $HTTP_REFERER)) && !(eregi("Outpost", $HTTP_REFERER))) {


    $fp = fopen ($recentfile, "w");

    for ($y = $start; $y <= $amount; $y++) {


        fputs($fp, "$recent[$y]");

    }

    fclose ($fp);

}





Castro accuses Bush of plotting to kill him

'We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself to the mafia ... to assassinate me,'' the Cuban president said, using the term commonly employed here to describe anti-Castro Cuban Americans. Castro's comments came at the end of a 5 ½ hour speech that began Thursday night and continued into early Friday at the closing of a conference bringing together activists across the region who oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas. ''I can die a natural death or I can die a planned death,'' Castro said. ``It really doesn't matter to me how I die, but I will surely die fighting.''

Well, as long as you die soon (and hopefully painfully), I don't really care which it is...

Castro recently visited Venezuela, perhaps to coordinate the thousands of “advisors” he’s sending to Hugo “Now we have a permanent revolution!” Chavez so that he can better assist him in establishing a Communist state there. He explained how Venezuela could benefit from totalitarianism in a recent speech:


Fidel spoke about how Cuba was able to bring about a dramatic improvement in the living conditions of the people, emphasizing the major break-throughs achieved in the field of education and health.

Here is the reality:


Today, Cuba ranks last in Latin American per capita food consumption - cereals and especially meat and milk consumption are down dramatically - but it has not lost its medical capabilities. Instead, Cuba has reoriented its medical system to the task of earning foreign exchange. To do this, Cuba pioneered "health tourism" through agencies such as Servimed, which markets medical services abroad. Cuba is "the ideal destination for your health," it boasts, frankly admitting to being "a tourist subsystem."
"But an ordinary Cuban of 63 or 64 years is already feeble, an old man." For the poor, beaten down by the system and denied basic medical care, the medical system is all "lose."

"Lebanon: The Real 'Occupied Territory'"

Here's one cause you won't ever see the pinkos take up: Lebanon: The Real
'Occupied Territory'

Chinese Censorship

Chinese dissidents say that despite the government's best efforts to stop them, they are successfully using the internet to spread their messages ever more widely through the world's most populous country. But despite the help of several major international corporations and the use of the most sophisticated equipment, the Chinese government is finding the worldwide web much harder to censor than traditional media.

Whether immediate efforts to prevent coordination among dissidents are successful, China’s attempts at censorship are bound to fail in the long run. Because the Internet’s value as a commercial and research tool are bound to grow, and are closely intertwined with alternative uses, the costs of preventing access to any particular material is bound to become prohibitively expensive, especially with the rapid and exponential growth of Internet users in China. Meanwhile, the best strategy democratic nations can follow is to make China’s censorship policy as costly as possible by sponsoring the development of circumvention technologies.

"A religion of peace"

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The cleric who delivered the sermon Friday at the annual hajj pilgrimage had a simple request: God grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world.

The prayer by Sheik Saleh al-Taleb to 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets came as the hajj neared its climax.

"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere," al-Taleb said. "Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists."

Hot anime chicks molded in plastic! Call me weird, but these models rock!


Commie Economics

I've often wondered how socialists can possibly explain away the actual track record of socialist regimes in countries like the USSR, Cuba, and China. Now I know: they were actually capitalist countries all along!

It is widely assumed that capitalism means a free market economy. But it is possible to have capitalism without a free market. The systems that existed in the U.S.S.R and exist in China and Cuba demonstrate this. These class-divided societies are widely called ‘socialist’. A cursory glance at what in fact existed there reveals that these countries were simply ‘state capitalist’. In supposedly ‘socialist’ Russia, for example, there still existed wage slavery, commodity production, buying, selling and exchange, with production only taking place when it was viable to do so. ‘Socialist’ Russia continued to trade according to the dictates of international capital and, like every other capitalist, state, was prepared to go to war to defend its economic interests. The role of the Soviet state became simply to act as the functionary of capital in the exploitation of wage labour, setting targets for production and largely controlling what could or could not be produced. We therefore feel justified in asserting that such countries had nothing to do with socialism as we define it.

More depraved leftist hypocrisy

Get this: according to the leftists, even one civilian death was unacceptable when our troops went after Saddam. However, when it comes to the “anti-occupation resistance,” innocent deaths are perfectly fine, says a prominent leftist pundit:


Do you think the anti-war movement should be supporting Iraq's anti-occupation resistance?
"Yes, I do. We cannot afford to be choosy. While we abhor and condemn the continuing loss of innocent life in Iraq, we have no choice now but to support the resistance, for if the resistance fails, the “Bush gang” will attack another country. If they succeed, a grievous blow will be suffered by the Bush gang."

Sounds about right

With a proposed annual budget of $756 billion, the Department of Deficit Obliteration will study ways to eliminate the gap between federal revenues and expenditures without any real cuts in spending that might cause discomfort for potential voters.

Did Saddam bribe anti-war politicians with oil money?

Apparently, it was all about the grease:

Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.

Thanks, Comment Spammers

Not funny. I am also one of the top results for the Paris Hilton video, photos of women's privates, and Arabic peep shows. I have never mentioned any of these topics on my blog (before now that is), but after various unsavory characters spammed my referrer list, search engines associated my websites with these sundry websites. Fortunately, the referrer list works both ways – I’m now one of the top capitalists on the web.

Plans to build a major new medical laboratory in England were scrapped Tuesday in the face of protests by animal rights groups, who claimed the decision as a major victory….Cambridge University said the project, which would have used monkeys for neurological testing, would no longer go ahead and cited spiraling costs over security needed to keep out anti-vivisectionist groups. ...The university and the publicly funded Medical Research Council (MRC), said the decision was a great disappointment as the laboratory would have attracted scientists from around the world to work on diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's...."The research is vital and 'vital' means likely to save lives," he said. "This research will go on elsewhere...in the world.”

"from sadam's daughter"

Check out this email I just got:



Please I need urgent assistance and advice.
My name is Jume Hasa Hussein. I am daughter of Sadam Hussein, former ruler of Iraq Islamic Republic now in captivity. I was a student of Environmetal Microbiology at Islamic University Al-Athmia before the United Nations weapons inspectors arrived Iraq and subsequent outbreak of hostilities between my father and the Coalition forces. Eventually, my father was arrested at Ad-Dawr, Tikrit on the 13th day of december 2003. To my understanding, the american soldiers have narcotized my father.
There is a saying in Iraq "a lion in a cage is still a lion"

All my father's known assets have been confiscated by the united nation's coalition group as illegally acquired at the expense of our country. Three of my brothers where tortured to death by the US soldiers for withholding information of my father's whereabout. Other members of our family have fled our country for fear of persecution. I am presently broke and trapped in a hidden location in our country pending when I secure help from a good samaritan who will assist me to claim a sum of US$30million which my father deposited in my name in a secured vault in Victoria Island in 1995 during my twenty first birthday out of foresight should we his children ever find ourselves in this kind of situation.

Most importantly, apart from helping me claim this funds into your custody you will also help me relocate from iraq, to a place where I will conclude my studies with relative peace of mind. For your assistance I am willing to offer you a generous compensation, if you help me.

Send your response to my secure email address: [email protected] to enable me further this relationship.

sincerely

Ms. J. Hasana Hussein
[email protected]

Lies, Myths and Downright Stupidity

Check out John Stosell's "List of Popularly Reported Misconceptions." Every one of them should be obvious to any educated individual with an ounce of independent thought. That they are rarely recognized as such in the media and elsewhere is a sad testament to irrationalism of our society.

"F*** Hitler! F*** the Nazis!"

This is one of the reaons I want a parrot: "inner thoughts of Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill live on, thanks to the foul mouth of his 104-year-old parrot who lives at a garden centre in southeast England." Also check out JJ's take on it.

Israel moving forward with plan to release 400 Arab prisoners

Israel is releasing over 430 terrorists (many of whom are known to have planned and carried out terrorist attacks) in exchange for a single businessman abducted in 2000 by the Hezbollah. While this is a great example of the difference between the value Israelis and the terrorists place on human life, I wonder how many more people will be killed/abducted by the 400 released terrorists. What do you think? How do you think American politicians would act in such a situations?
From the article:


"[the] next phase in the deal may involve Iran, which along with Syria is the main financial backer of Hezbollah"...
Some Israeli commentators and right-wing politicians worried that the deal rewards terrorism and could lead to other kidnappings...Asked if Hezbollah would seek other hostages if these deals fell through, Sheik Nasrallah said at the news conference: "Yes. Of course."

Goodbye to the Big Apple

• New York has a “Department of Homeless Services,” which, among it’s other activities, is giving away $10 million in cash to the “homeless.”
• Washington DC “will soon install plain white condom dispensers in select government offices and begin distributing the contraceptives for free.” The city “plans to pass out about 550,000 male condoms, 45,000 latex dental dams and about 30,000 female condoms in a variety of venues, including the public school system, which gives out 50,000 condoms a year.”
• I will pay 50.8% more in state and local taxes in New York than I will in other states.
• And finally, due to a new law sponsored by Governor Pataki, I risk a jail term of up to 25 years if I take my gun to New York. (It's illegal to sell even a toy gun!)

I need your help!

I’m currently trying to choose a template for ObjectivismOnline, and I would like your help in picking one from among the finalists. Please go to here and select one of the templates from the “Template Chooser” on the bottom of the left side. I’ve listed my favorite ones in the poll below. Please vote on your favorite one or send me a message if you like another - there are 53 to choose from. (Note: many of these currently don't work in IE, so you may want to try a different browser.)
Thanks!

Post Office Stuck in Time Loop

A leading physicist claims to have figured out why the U.S. Postal Service loses a lot of mail and delivers most of the rest late -- post offices are "architectural anomalies" that cause time warps, wreaking havoc with letters, packages, sorting machines . . . and sometimes even mail carriers themselves.

"Mandatory Masks for the Ugly"

Federal officials who recently reported that over 140 million Americans are fat are now saying that at least that many are ugly. And the solution they're proposing is a law that would encourage or even require "facially challenged" citizens to cover up with masks, Weekly World News has learned.

But the news isn't all bad. According to sources at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, those among you who are real homely will be able to choose from a wide range of "beauty masks," including Elvis in his prime, J.Lo, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

The dramatic move comes as the Feds are reeling from a global perception that most Americans are grossly obese when, in fact, only half are.

Updates

I wrote my first Perl script today after three hours of fumbling around in a totally alien syntax. Score one for goal-directed action. I generally avoid Perl like the plague, but it was the only way I could find to do a bulk import into the MT email DB_File notify database. I’ve also written a script to export posts from a SQL/MS Access based database into the MT import format. Let me know if you want either. The scripts are for Mises.org Blog, which I’ve been configuring and tweaking the last two days.

I’m also working on the re-release of ObjectivismOnline.net, which should go live sometime in early February. I scrapped the old PostNuke CMS for Mambo, a clean, fast, and powerful CMS. The new website will feature a meta-blog, for which I am currently seeking writers. Here is the “official” announcement:

Do you want to take a leading role in America’s intellectual renaissance? Then consider joining the team at ObjectivismOnline.net. We are looking for contributors to a new pro-reason, pro-capitalism meta-blog. (A meta-blog is an aggregate web log consisting of original content and links to content at other sites.) We are also accepting essays, editorials, letters to the editor, and reviews to include in other parts of our website.

Interested individuals should contact .. me. The website is still a work in progress, but the forum is growing rapidly and being frequented by several Objectivist philosophers, notably Amy Peikoff, Greg Salmieri, and me :-)

If you’ve noticed how harsh I’ve been on Dean, you might think that I would be pleased to see him to go ape on national television. Not so – I’d rather see him run against Bush than any of the other leading candidate. Since they are all equally communist, I’d at least like to see the candidate with the least chance of beating Bush win the primary. Just to cover my bets, I had better stick to bashing the leftists in general:

Larry Elder: The left supported the war in Iraq, then flip-flopped when it was politically advantageous.

Thomas Sowell: The Left’s problem is “that they are running out of the poor, who serve as a justification of the left's drive to extend their power over all the rest of us.”

Free Web Hosting!

1&1 is giving away three years of free web hosting. I've been using it for three months now (it runs this site) and I'm very happy with it. As amazing as it sounds, there's no catch. The offer expires on the 21st, so sign up today!

Stuff I Want

There is quite a variety of stuff here, and I am looking for *your* help in helping me find good deals on this stuff. If you find me a real good deal(s), I am will provide my web design/graphic/programming services. For example, if you find me a deal on a parrot, I can provide the domain name/hosting/web design/support for a flashy website.

Stuff I Want

• Amazon Wishlist
• MP3 Player/Storage Stick: 256mb+
• Digital Camera - 5 mpx, 3+ zoom, $300-$550
• Parrot: Indian Ringneck, etc, $70-$150
• 9mm automatic

• 2 - 17" LCD Monitors to replace my CRT's
• AMD 2600 XP CPU
• Laser Printer
• 5.1 Sound Card
• Case: Aluminum 400W PS

• Original painting from Quent Cordair
• Sporty New Car
• Dual 27"+ LCD Monitors
• Concept-design ergonomic steel and glass desk
• LCD Projector for home theatre

Dean is taking grassroots to a whole new level: "Team Dean Racing". In the words of Tim Blair, it's "the only race vehicle in the world actually designed to spin."

I recently received an email (too long to show here) from a reader of my blog criticizing me from calling Dean a socialist. He gave Dean's “goal of diversifying our media” as an example of his non-socialist, pro-American stance and “one of the main reasons I will support him in this year's election.”
Well hell, if Dean can claim that Bush is a Fascist, that the world isn’t safer without Saddam, and “diversifying” the media is pro-American, then maybe he deservers my “support:”

As I recall, both Stalin and Hitler made “diversifying the media” major goals of their rule shortly after their gained power.

The Ominous Parallels

After each full day of skiing during the last week, I recovered my body by exercising my mind – notably by reading The Ominous Parallels. Here is the review I submitted to Amazon.com afterwards:

As a Jew, I have watched, read, and visited countless accounts of the Holocaust – but not one of them correctly identified the ideas that brought it about or the ideas that will prevent it from happening again. In some cases, I was first shocked by the accounts of survivors and then horrified when they offered as a solution the same ideas that created the Nazis.

“The Ominous Parallels” finally exposes the cause and answer to Fascism. Dr. Peikoff presents a compelling and cogent thesis on the evil of collectivism in terms of the fundamental ideas that shape our history by masterfully analyzing the intellectual and cultural climate that led to the Holocaust and its parallels to today’s America. Along the way, he outlines the development of Western philosophy – from the glorious creation of the United States to the rise of skepticism, pragmatism, collectivism, and the Weimar culture. Broad philosophical, political, and cultural trends are analyzed and dissected according to their basic premises, as you will never hear in a history class.

Both those well read in and new to the philosophy of Objectivism will find this book accessible and the arguments reasoned out and supported by numerous examples. This is not light reading, however– I spent as much time pausing to digest and integrate the ideas in this book as I did reading it. Those unfamiliar with Objectivism may have some difficulty connecting the author’s asides on abortion, physics, and religion to the central theme, but it does not detract from the overall message.

As Dr Peikoff states, it is impossible to predict the future or know whether the Holocaust will repeat itself – but it is certain that only by understanding and adopting a proper philosophy can America survive as a free country. If this book succeeds in teaching the world about the importance of ideas, then six million shall not have died in vain.

Seatle Times: Streakers in a restaurant watch as their car is stolen.

I'm back!

I shredded, ripped, and tumbled down the black diamonds like mere bunny slopes (or was it the other way around?) and had an awesome time in Breckenridge. Check out the photos here – the film camera shots are coming soon.