My migration to TextPattern has been been delayed. The release of version 1.0 is imminent and I’ve decided to wait for it. This will also allow me to take a closer look at rejecting comment spam in TextPattern.

TextPattern 1.19γ provides three primary mechanisms against comment spam:

1. Moderation
2. Automatic closure on old posts
3. Enforced comment preview

Unfortunately:

1. I’d rather not have to moderate comments
2. I’d rather keep comments open
3. From the looks of my server logs, my comment spam is manually posted (the page with the comment link is requested and then the comment is posted)

I need to look at the latest TextPattern source in the subversion repository. I definitely want to reject comments with an excessive number of links. And I’d like to have blacklist support as well.

It looks like the spam-master is also targeting Rogers Cadenhead. In a splendid example of not seeing the forest for the trees, I’ve been updating my blacklist each time the spam-master slips new sites past my filter. After reading Rogers’ account, I just added logic to ban comments that contain more than 3 links.

Unlike the previous two weeks, the MasterMind had the Broncos ready to play this week. The result was a 31-13 victory over the Houston Texans. The Good Jake showed up and completed 16 of 24 with 4 TDs and no interceptions. Reuben Droughns rushed for 120 yards on 29 carries.

I remain concerned about the pass rush and the rushing game. The defense needs a healthy Trevor Pryce to return from back surgery. And the rushing game, while solid, needs to become dominant. Jake Plummer is good enough to win games if he doesn’t have to. But when he starts pressing, his judgement becomes suspect. The defense and the rushing game need to keep him in his comfort zone.

This was an important win for the Broncos. If they had lost, then they would have gone into the bye week on a three game losing streak. Now they go in on an up note. More in next week’s bye week wrap-up.

I’ve been a member of the Democratic Party for less than a year, but it seems to me our big failure in 2004 was our candidate. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it’s plain that John Kerry’s defining characteristic was that he wasn’t George Bush.

Anybody But Bush may have been enough reason for a Democrat to vote Kerry. But with the United States in troubled times, swing voters needed more. And while Kerry was a solid campaigner for the minds of voters, he failed to reach their hearts.

My hope looking forward is that the Democrats cultivate leaders who can capture both hearts and minds. Playing to the core constituency might have been a winning tactic when the Democrats out numbered the Republicans. That time is past.

Ouch. The Falcons laid the hurt on the Broncos 41-28. The erstwhile conference leading Broncos defense was shredded for 467 yards. The vaunted Broncos rushing offense was held to 68 yards. And while the passing offense put up 499 yards, three interceptions negated much of that.

I didn’t see the game, so I’m going to refrain from parceling out blame. But the buck stops at the MasterMind.

… [it has two starbucks coffee shops within in a one block radius] There is obviously no way it can be there and not compete with starbucks. My message was to clarify that it doesnt want to compete to reach such a large corporate scale.

And to clarify my original post on the Juan Valdez Cafe; my argument is that if a small entity is to successfully compete with a corporate entity, then it must do so on its own terms. The corporation has deeper pockets and institutional support, the small retailer counters with intimate knowledge of their customer base and responsiveness to their desires.

My concern is that a successful small retailer can usually be even more successful as part of a larger corporation - but chooses to remain small as a personal commitment. How will the Colombian Coffee Grower’s Association find and retain a leader who can compete with Starbucks on quality and customer satisfaction?

… the purpose of the Juan Valdez stores isn’t to compete with Starbucks. It’s to promote Colombian coffee and the Juan Valdez brand. The CEO said it himself, they don’t want to compete with Starbucks. Just keep stopping by there and enjoy it.

That’s hogwash. Central Park is just about the only place in Manhattan where you can be more than 3 blocks from a Starbucks. If you build a cafe on Manhattan, then you’re implicitly competing with Starbucks. Perhaps not financially - But if you don’t deliver better coffee or a better customer experience, then you are just establishing your coffee and your brand as a second rate product.

1 Nov: Juan Valdez Tridux

I’m not impressed with software suggestion services. I think that they’re only capable of identifying genres of interest and fail to recognize subtle differences between members of a particular genre. And because of the lack of transparency in how suggestions are generated, it’s not clear how to rate an instance of failure in an otherwise acceptable category. If a new author has written two books (one good and one bad), then will an honest ranking hide or reveal the third book?

My Tivo problem is a bit worse. Because I just caught Tivo suggestions recording the weather channel. Our cable company also provides round the clock local traffic and weather. And thanks to the weather channel incident, I’m thinking that it would be handy to record it for fast access to the morning traffic. But is it possible to record and watch it every morning without Tivo deciding that we’re slaves to traffic and weather?

Bad week for the MasterMind. The Broncos lost to the Bengals on Monday night - a game which they were almost universally favored to win. I didn’t watch the entire game, but it seemed to me that the Bengals were better prepared for this game.

This was the game where the Broncos’ lack of a pass rush (six sacks in seven games) was exposed. The Broncos relied upon the blitz to pressure Carson Palmer and left Champ Bailey one on one with Chad Johnson - with Johnson the overall winner. Champ needs to earn his salary in those situations. But the Broncos also need to help him out by with better disguise of their defense.

This game also exposed the limits of the Broncos’ offense. The Broncos need to play their games from in front. The rush sets up the pass. And if the rush is not a threat, then the offense is in trouble. Jake Plummer isn’t steady enough to carry the team with the pass. And it was yet another off week for the receiving corps.

The Broncos are still in charge of the AFC West. But with the Chiefs regaining their offensive form, the MasterMind needs to make sure his team is ready from here on out.

My aunt just bought a new iBook from the Soho Apple Store. Not a particularly lucky purchase. She just missed the release of the updated iBooks. And now her logic board is on the fritz. The iBook logic board bug has been around for quite a while now. The fact that it still remains doesn’t reflect well on Apple.

27 Jan 05: Since people are pointing at this post as an example of poor Apple quality, let me also mention that my aunt dropped the iBook off at a Genius Bar and had a replacement in a week. How many hoops did you have to jump through the last time your computer had a problem under warranty?