Weblog | January 2005

No less than 63 pieces of casino related referal spam this morning. Luckily there's plenty of info to find, since I'm not alone in this. For example, try Killing Referral Spam and An introduction to mod_security.
Update: Speaking of with the devil.

Stumbled upon these actionfigures based on the paintings by Dutch painter Hiėronymus Bosch. Some of these are pretty cool. It also gives me the opportunity to display some of his work. On the right you can see a detail from "Hell", which is the right panel from the triptych "Garden of Earthly Delight".

According to an international report we've nearly reached the global warming danger threshold. More at Slashdot's A Countdown To Global Catastrophe.

There's a list of CMS Don'ts and Don'ts on allttags.org. I'm currently working on converting two older sites into one new one. The biggest problem facing me at the moment is old (ie invalid) content which isn't cleaned up by our CMS. So though the framework for the new site is valid XHTML, the integration of the older content makes it the site invalid. Such a shame.

Became a member of the public library a week or two ago. Hadn't gotten round to getting a book though, since I'm still working my way trough my own bookcase. However, finished my current book this afternoon and felt like something fresh. Took me a while to decide, but I finally chose The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears.
The book I finished, by the way, was Quinnell's Man On Fire. Which has been recently made into a movie starring a very unlikely Denzel Washington. But I shall not judge, I have yet to see it.

Just read the news about the damage that has been done to the ancient city of Babylon by U.S. Soldiers. Unbelievable.

Continued with my viewing of the first season of Carnivąle last night. I'm trying not to watch too many in one go.
Luckily the next season is already underway, so there's more coming. It has such a wonderful grim and ominous atmosphere. Truly a joy to watch.
Oh, you can also buy the first season on DVD now.

The buzzword du jour. Folksonomies are appearing in more and more places at the moment. Here's a list of links for more info.

• Wikipedia, always start here.
• Vanderwal.net, from the one who coined the term
• Problems with their use in Del.icio.us and Flickr
• Technorati Does Tags

Plans for the RijnGouweLijn are becoming quite serious at the moment. On the one hand it would be great, because it could replace busses in the city center, and allow quick access to both the beach in the west and my parents house in the east. But on the other hand it's rediculous to allow such a huge vehicle through the historical innercity, especially without taking the effect on bicycles into account. I wonder if we'll be allowed to vote on the issue sometime in the future.

I ordered an indoor rower (the model D to be exact) a week or so ago. It was delivered on thursday. All I need to do now is fit it into my routine.

Just got back from the cinema, went to see Oliver Stone's Alexander. Check out the official site here.
Battle scenes were rather impressive, loved the elephants. Use of a narrator and the occasional flashback was a bit awkward at times. But all in all, I was pleasently surprised.
Oh, and take note of his beautiful horse, Bucephalus. He's Dutch. Well, Frisian to be exact.
Here are a bunch of reviews. For a more historical view, try the Wikipedia.

There's a debate on the ownership of e-mail, since a Mr. Ellsworth is locked in a legal fight with Yahoo! after his son, a U.S. marine serving in Falluja, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Interesting question though. I can't imagine anyone getting access to the numerous online services I use. Heck, I'm pleased if can remember the login. Maybe it's time to take note of the more important stuff.

We went to Hoorn yesterday, to surprise my aunt on her 50th birthday. Strange to see all those people again, some of them I hadn't seen in ten years. Interesting to see how everyone's aged. Meanwhile I can't believe my vacation is almost over. Back to work on monday. It'll be hard to get out of bed in time. Sigh.

Just finished watching the extended DVD for The Return of the King, after watching the other 2 parts earlier this week. Next year I'll try all three in one sitting. ;-) Found an interesting post on the IMDb board. About time I read the The Silmarillion again though, most of the finer details have gotten away from me. Luckily there's always the Encyclopedia of Arda.

So, how are you enjoying 2005 so far? Here's a look at 2004 if you wonder what happened this last year.