OK, so I have every reason to believe that DMfM is now running on MovableType 3.01D.

The upgrade worked, and the upgrade script assured me that everything went as planned. The only suspicion I have is that the "Powered By MovableType" thing on the lower right side of this page, still says "v2.661".

This is likely just an oversight on my part, or an evil conspiracy between the MT people and the aliens that are watching my every move. Paranoid? Me?

Update
The version number seems to have been updated, in the column on the right.

Next thing to do, is instigate the comment registration system, which should stop comment spam.

OK, sod it, I'm upgrading to MovableType 3.0

If DMfM disappears, that'll be why.

This website has long been beleaguered by comment spam. It's a problem that afflicts a lot of sites that allow reader comments.

The spammers, through use of various bots, post comments advertising all the usual shit that spam emails also promote. You know the sort of thing, Viagra, Cialis, porn, online gambling etc etc. Their comment generating programs are sophisticated enough to be so random in their comment content, author name and email address that it's almost impossible to automate detecting, removing and blocking them.

So, I'm left to wade through the 10-30 spam comment emails a day, and use my SQL knowledge to dream up the most efficient queries to remove as many of these comments as possible, in the least number of queries.

Having investigated several third-party solutions, I'm left thinking that it's all too over-complicated to be much fun.

Now, MovableType (makers of the software I use for DMfM content management), have come out with v3.0, which has some major comment spam blocking features.

So, sometime soon, I will attempt an upgrade.

Stop laughing.

Yes you. Stop it! The sniggering with your hand across your mouth isn't fooling me either, it's still mocking.

Whilst we all know the grief an MT (MovableType, not Max Turner) upgrade causes, I think it's a risk worth taking.

Here's the thing though. If it works, you'll all have to register, in order to be allowed to leave comments on the site. It's a short, one-screen registration, but it means I'll be free from the clutches of the spammers.

Heck, I might even update the site more often! Well, only when I have time, between buying viagra and penis enlargement solutions - purely for product evaluation purposes, you understand. I'd claim it was a gift for a friend, but that sounds even weirder.

I've added a link (on the Links page, where else did you expect?) to my friend John's website.

It's worth a look, particularly for the pictures he took when he came over to Colorado.

Also, if enough people go to his site, it might make hiim get off his arse and add more to it. Particularly, more of the new musical side-project he has going.

OK, all you pop music geeks, time to sharpen your pencils and start adding to a superb list. I got this link from another blog that I read.

A site called McSweeney's Internet Tendency has a list of Possible Follow-up Songs For One-Hit Wonders. Cracking good stuff.

My suggestions are below, however, American readers, please realise that as I grew up in the UK, my one-hit wonders will be songs that were one-hit wonders from there:

"Untie That Yellow Ribbon, From That Old Oak Tree We're About To Chop Down"
"Gordon Is Now Referred To A Cerebrally Challenged"
"OK Folks, Sun's Up. Stop Whang-Chunging"
"No-one Died Quite Like Grandma"*
"Aga-Don't"
"Japanese Old Man"
"99 Highly-Irradiated Faded Pink Balloons"*
"I'm Divorced From A German Film Star"

OK. Let's hear it.

*Supplied by John.

Posted by Max at 05:48 PM | Comments (4)

OK, this is bad. A fourth coffee house in one afternoon/evening.

Boulder Bookstore's coffee house. It's super-busy, cute as all hell, and choc full of the sort of people who you'd expect to live in Boulder. I just saw a guy walk in, wearing what I can best describe as a pirate ship third seaman outfit.

The coffee is good, and two wireless networks within range.

I'm toning things down, and now only drinking regular coffee instead of anything espresso-based. This way, I should be able to get to sleep...sometime next week.

Saturday 10th July
Witz Java & Jazz - 1489 Steele St.
Having finished presenting the 12-3pm show on KUVO today, I decided to go for coffee somewhere new. A quick search online revealed four independent coffee houses, with free wireless Internet access, that I've so far not been to.

The executive overview is as follows:

Coffee: Nice, well made, enormous.

Décor: Standard new building coffee house scheme, with big bold colours, wooden flooring an exposed air-conditioning pipes.

Staff: Friendly, slightly punk, lass.

Notes: There's a baby grand piano here! Apparently they have regular live music events.

Saturday 17th July
Daz Bog Coffee - 500 W. 12th St.
Finished the 12-3pm show on KUVO, got a haircut, headed off to the next place on the list.

Décor: Standard Daz Bog corporate colours, hideous fake stone flooring, exposed air-conditioning pipes.

Staff:1985 called, and they want their haircut back. The sad thing is that I suspect the barista in question is too young to realise she's recreating the look of a Molly Ringwald movie.

Notes: Other clientele seemed to consist entirely of friends of the barrista, plus her mother. Daz Bog is a local company who roast excellent coffee beans. I love their coffee. This foray into the world of coffee houses, however, whilst nice enough, is a little too clean cut, such that it starts to be reminiscent of Starbucks.

Metropolis Coffee - 300 11th St.
5:05pm and it's closed. Not impressed. Anyway, it looks like it's been purpose-built for the residents of the brand new apartment block above. This invariably means it's aimed at the Starbucks-drinking, Republican-voting, yuppie demographic, all of whom have about as much character as this year-old building, masquerading as a Georgian city block.

Metro Coffee - 277 Broadway

Coffee: Nice, another Daz Bog Coffee-serviing place

Décor: Modern building, with funky furniture. Good ambience, the obligatory exposed air-conditioning pipes.

Staff: Friendly guy, quick, lots of tattoos.

Notes: The furniture looks like something from the 1950's/1960's, with sharp angular edges. This looks a lot cuter than it sounds. Kinda "Cary Grant movie airport lounge" look.

These days, I don't normally mention every instance of me doing a radio show. That said, I'm on-air later today, Saturday, from noon-3pm (MDT). That's 7-10pm UK time.

I'm also on, on Tuesday night from 7-10pm (MDT). Tune In whydoncha?

I'm still persuing a certain regular timeslot, however, it would appear that the decision-making process is moving at an almost glacial pace.

I have finally, finally, updated some links in the Blog section of my links page. Go see if your site is correctly linked. Let me know if not, via the DMfM Feeback Form on this page.

Ugh. What a weekend.

I coughed and spluttered my way through three hours of live radio broadcasting, leaving listeners wondering if they'd actually tuned in to "Jazz With Darth Vader". By the end of it, I barely had the breath to haul my carcas into the truck.

After a brief stop at a new (to me) coffee house, for caffiene and Internet access, I went home and attempted to chill out. This of course, is a difficult process after the amount of espresso I'd had.

Saturday night, after eating dinner, developed a stomach ache, and spent the whole night tossing and turning, and waking up, feeling lousy.

By Sunday morning, my body had decided to serve and eviction notice on whatever it was that was bothering it. I'll spare you the details, except to say that part of that process involved my body's immune system, cranking up the internal thermostat to 102ºF. On a day where the temperature in the shade was 97ºF and over 100 in the sun, this wasn't fun. Then again, when is a fever fun?

I can tell when I'm super-ill. I lose the urge to go online, or read. When I lose the urge (as I did on Sunday) to even watch TV, then you know it's serious. In the end, I spent most of the day sleeping, and being looked after by my roommate. I don't know about you, but when I'm that sick, it's good to know there's someone there, monitoring things. I'm lousy at looking after myself when sick, and never drink enough water. That said, trying to make me drink three times my own body weight in water seemed a bit extreme, but at least the chicken noodle soup helped.

So, if you were hoping to hear from me via phone, email or whatever, this weekend. That's why you didn't.

I'm fine now, well I'm as good as it gets ;-)

As DMfM reported, way back in September last year, Doctor Who is coming back to TV in a brand new production, made (thank God) by the BBC. Advances in computer-generated graphics and animation mean a slick-looking show can now be made for a modest budget (no direct commercial sponsorship here... this is the BBC after all)

The principle players have been cast, with Christopher Eccleston playing The Doctor. In interviews, he says that he won't, "be a toff" by which he means he won't talk in a Received Pronunciation accent, but rather in a (softened) northern English accent, such as his native Mancunian.

All this leads us Who fans to speculate as to what other changes will befall the show, to make it fit in with this "northern" doctor?

Will northern English catchphrases be adapted for the show, such as "Trouble at Tardis", "Well, I'll go to the foot of our Eye of Harmony", "It's grim up t'Matrix", and "There's nowt as queer as Cybermen" ?

Will a new K9 come in the form of a cyborg whippet?

Will the Cybermen be transformed to be a group of heavy-set disgruntled former coal miners?

Will The Master - embodiment of a Timelord turned bad - be the only southerner, talking with an RP accent, and trying to close down all the Cyber mining operations?

The Daleks are not expected to make a comeback in the new series, however, we're assured that his is due to a legal dispute over editorial control with the estate of their creator, Terry Nation, and not because they're all up on bricks, having had their wheels stolen by some Scousers.

First of all, a belated Happy Fourth of July to all of you who celebrate it!

I was in Longmont on the day in question, watching the Longmont Symphony Orchestra plough their way through all the traditional patriotic American numbers.

It was a beautiful day, everyone there picnic, and the concert ended with The 1812 Overture. This included a real cannon, to create the cannon shots. Due to their having only one cannon, another "player", used a 12-gauge shotgun (which was actually louder than the cannon) in the faster parts. This is the first time I've heard the conductor of an orchestra introduce someone in the ranks as, "Principle Shotgunner".

Hard Luck Hard Disk
After two weeks scanning my 100GB disk, the data recovery software threw a wobbler and needed restarting. Guess what? You have to start from scratch. So this time, rather than chain my iBook to the desk for two weeks, I'm going to use a Mac at work to do the task.

Every day, I remember yet more vital data that was on the disk, and not backed up to my Mac laptop. :(