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Dervishly Divining Divinty & Beyond
Thanks for the spin-off, marye.
So what's with this Mollom
The Spam Captcha has gone and you will now see a notice at the bottom of the page that says:
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.
Now check out the privacy policy. When you post here, your IP address, email address, password and other details are sent to this Mollom organisation who then use their machines to decide if you are a spammer or not.
Well I am glad they are trying to eliminate the spammers, but I am not sure I like this. Or am I being paranoid. Can someone who knows about this kind of thing give an opinion.......that means you Mr Pid :-) pleeeease.
furthermore
..Mollom don't seeem to work so well as the whole place has been spammed to hell again. Maybe it has to take time to learn to recognise the invaders.
Very frustrating for us and for the mods and tech folks too I bet.
Mollam - Golem
The spam on this site is getting ridiculous. These people appear typically around 4-6am est with multiple user names. The Chinese spammers I find to be totally ridiculous. Are they so ethnocentric that they believe there are Chinese reading people on this site? Well, yes, I know there are a few but what in God's name do they hope to accomplish?
Short of dead.net hiring a mod. 24 hours a day to monitor who is online there is no way to entirely stop the spammers. Especially the more clever spammers who start with a few words on topic and then go into their spiel.
I vote for 4 hour shift mods. compensated at minimum wage as credits to be spent on the dead.net store. Giving away free product to keep this commercial site free of clutter is really cool way to go. Anybody who would volunteer to spend 4 hours with their finger on the nuke button for a $32 credit in the store is to be commended.
smeagol.com
Silly Deadheads, they trackses us with the Precious....
Sorry, couldn't resist!
I haven't the time to do a full Graham and Dodd on them, nor was I consulted in either their selection or implementation, but from what they claim they appear to be well-intentioned reasonably competent white hat types. I have chosen to view them as benign. As for what potentially personally identifying information they retain and for how long, they claim to anonymize content (ie separate what was posted from the identity that posted it) after two months. Further, the identity information (IP address, User ID, email address, time of posting) is only as identifying as the credentials the user creates on the site that uses the service.
One special point I would make, since Brother Badger may have left some with an incorrect impression, is that one piece of data that is most certainly NOT being tracked is user passwords. This is because there is no way for this site to provide them as they don't have them stored in plain text. As with all unix-like systems, only the results of encrypting users passwords are actually stored. The unix password encryption algorithm design is a totally secure one way trapdoor. Actually kind of a thing of beauty, if design elegance does anything for you. Passwords encrypted with this technology cannot be decrypted, hence the term one way trap door. This is why on most sites if you forget your password they can't just give it to you but they can cheerfully reset it to something else anytime you want. I could go on at length about this but I'll spare you furthur dizzying detail unless you PM me begging for more because you just can't seem to get to sleep.
Anyway, back to the new technotoy. The service analyzes all proposed new posts and initially classifies them as "Good," "Bad" or "Unsure." Items marked as "Good" get posted directly and items marked "Bad" get returned to the site's moderation queue. When something gets classified as "Unsure," the posting user is then confronted with our old pal, Captcha, and if the Captcha is satisfied correctly the item posts directly. I got confronted with one of those yesterday when I commented on the "What Would Be The Answer" thread. What I said didn't strike me as particularly spammy. Maybe a little snarky, but whatever. Obviously the thing is plugged in.
As to how effective it may be, let's think about the social engineering involved. They have been using Captchas here for a while and that did thin out the purely Bot based spam, but we seem to be plagued by dedicated little Hormel subcontractors who aren't deterred by Captchas at all. I haven't read the specs for the API or the Drupal plugin code Mollom makes available, but I can't help wondering out loud if perhaps any items that get returned as "Unsure" should probably go to the moderation queue regardless of whether the user satisfies the Captcha or not. That approach may from time to time result in legitimate user posts being delayed in public release but will most assuredly curtail all the human generated spam.
Once again, it simply becomes a question of how much freedom are we willing to sacrifice in order to obtain a perception of security, in this case security from being deluged with dreck. OK, I'll stop there before I have to cross-post in Life, The Universe and Everything.
Guess what?
I just got Captcha'd again! That's okay, it was a useful experience. Since the Captcha was unbranded (which I'm assuming means the Captcha bit itself did not identify that it was generated by Mollom) WMG is probably using a version of the Paid service rather than the Free service. Woohoo! This spam crap is annoying enough to them where they're actually willing to throw money at it! Nice to see it won't be another GagaLive solution.
My post probably got snagged because it contained links. That's a good first step. However, those links refer to the site where the post was being made to begin with. Um, guys, think we can be a bit brighter about that? MMMkay?
well thank your Mr Pid
I knew we could rely on you! Sorry to mislead about passwords and ramp up the paranoia even more.
I had an idea to mess up the spammers....put a block on any user posting more often than, say, every 5 or even ten minutes. If we knew about it it would not inconvenience too much (few are so prolific) , but it might mess up the productivity of the spammers, having to wait 10 minutes or create a new ID all the time. Just an idea....prolly won't work.
How about those Jayhawks!
What an amazing semi-final basketball game in the Big Easy last night: Ohio State went to sleep offensively after leading by 9 at the half. There's one more hurdle for the University of Kansas >> the Kentucky Wildcats Monday. Rock chalk Jayhawks !
Getting back to the discussion regarding the night sky with planets, stars and the waxing moon tonight and tomorrow, the waxing gibbous moon swings close to a sparkling blue-white Royal Star and the red planet Mars. That Royal Star is Regulus, the brightest in the constellation Leo, the star depicting the Lion’s Heart. The moon will be closest to Regulus. Away from the moon, Venus and Jupiter still light up the western sky after sunset, with the brighter Venus above Jupiter.
we travel the spaceways from planet to planet
Isn't it great that we are sharing the same night sky either side of the big pond that separates us.
Of course our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have quite a different experience
Large full moon
Yes, CB, it is amazing. The full moon on 5/5 will be quite a "big" view, according to a meteorologist on the television. Hope clouds don't block the view!
so, anybody get any good eclipse pix?
I took one look outside and decided the sun was hurting my eyes too much and I'd look at the pictures later... Some people got the full effect, of course.
Let's go surfing now
Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how, c'mon and safari with me.
( - ;
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7RW8PFJTJJY
Oh, ain't this the old beach boys lovers forum?
Catching small waves, sun rays.... Moonbeams of love.
love&peace,
cc
Bioschismic
"Time becomes plastic. Your experience of time morphs................And when you come out of it, on the strong days right before the next scheduled infusion, all of that time compresses into blurry waves of noise". - Xeni Jardin.
Time is defined by and within the human experience yet the dominance of 'linear' time prevails. We are inextricably linked with time, 'Life' is measured in time.
Depending on particular situations our experience of time can be elusive, appear stretched, accelerated, and on occasions all too specifically in synch with defined parameters. Audio recordings, film, Internet, and photography are some of the means by which we choose to mark 'times'. Such documentary methods signify our need to externalise particular events and also to activate memories.
'Bioschismic' is created solely from audio and photographic documentation of Xeni's time spent receiving Chemo Therapy. The repetitive drip drip rhythm of the toxic chemicals measured in precise doses of a specific period of time provide the prospect of extending (life) time. Time is the dominant force yet the effects of the drugs change the experience of time to a space that is other worldly - a different time zone - a schism within and for life itself.
- Cosey Fanni Tutti.
This sound piece can be heard as part of the 'Bruce Nauman Days' exhibition at the I.C.A in London. 19th June 2012 - 16 September. Entry to the exhibition is free.
http://www.ica.org.uk/33310/Exhibitions/Bruce-Nauman-Days.html
http://www.ica.org.uk/projects/soundworks/
http://chrisandcosey.com/
August 16th
Long time no c, cc. Oh the history we have on this warm muggy August day. A tip of the hat to the memories of Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley. 43 years ago today, Max Yasgur turned his dairy farm in Bethel, NY into a rock 'n roll party for 500,000 fans.Our local public station, KKFI, is spinning Woodstock tunes this morning.
welcome back
hey CC
good of you to drop by.....
(I wanted to insert some cool surfing expression here, but I don't know any)
happy trails
CB
Badgers don't surf!
Hey now!
Other emails recently conceived seem to indicate clear confusion concerning c c concepts carter chris cosey!
Huh?
Placement of the next post a simple example of clever coincidence but not synchronicity lol. Perhaps....
thinking RR not cc lol wtf ymmv rotfl r&r? sho nuff.
gdtrfb!
capo di tutti capi
cc
Speaking of missing miscreants
Pid finally has internet again. And a new abode/hovel. Gadzooks, do I have a lot of reading to do to catch up. It's all so newish and shiny in here now.
Miss me? Awww, I bet you weren't even shooting at me!
And what a welcome back. Mollomed on my first post...
Bump
well, it's good to have you back where you belong!
welcome back!
back where I belong...
The saying just made me think its good to be back here. I havent so much as surfed the site in months, or posted anything in years. Now I have got my android phone and I can get online all the time, listen to the jams, download shows; technology is truly an awesome and wonderful thing!! Great to be back! Everyone have a glorious day.
Mr Pid
Welcome back. You were not forgotten on my part anyway. Hard to summarise what you have missed. Mostly the nornal tsunami of problems, bad communication, misery and recrimination traditionally associated with all new releases of Grateful Dead music! We are so used to it we would miss it if it didn't happen.
right on brother
Thanka badger. Makes me feel good that I was gone but not forgotten. Hope all is well on your end. I sure I missed more than some organized chaos, but I can definitely respect what u said. So much of it u r used to it. Hope that u r having a wonderful evening, and make sure u answer me back pronto. Have a glorious day, and be kind!!
i feel dumb
Well, Sorry badger, I guess u were talkin to mr. pid, not me. But anyway, i still feel welcome. Didnt mean to make u uncomfortable. Have a glorious day. Ramble_on.
Welcome too Ramble on 74
No worries. Not uncomfortable at all, just a little puzzled for a moment. Always heppy to see all friendly folks here.
Thank you, thank you very much!
Nice to see you again as well, marye and CB! Not to overlook CC either! Is there a new season of the smash Deadhead Reality series False Alarm in the offing? Hmmmm???? And a hearty Hey Now to Ramble_on74 as well!
And now that most of my OS patches and upgrades have been downloaded and installed perhaps I can actually start using this machine for its intended purpose - yukking it up around here! Oh, but there's also that whole new recent regimen of putting in 14 - 15 hours a day six days a week as a Personal Transportation Facilitator. But I will be around more often, so fair warning!
colors of..............
ash, maple, hickory, sumac. autumn is always a nice, simple reminder from mother nature of how there's so much more than what meets the eye. just like sunlight is comprised of different combined colors,the pigments responsible for the beautiful, endless shades of reds, yellows and orange are there from the birth of the leaf in spring, but with chlorophyll being the predominant pigment, all we see until autumn is endless shades of green. also, although miniscule in comparison to the combustion of carbon based sources, it is at this time of year that the largest natural and continuous release of carbon monoxide occurs, due entirely to the degradation of chlorophyll...........(not a plausible excuse for over-sleeping though, as i found out today from my still current employer :D). so there's that.I also wanted to say to ramble-on74 that i'm kinda new here, but i know exactly how you feel. most of my time (every day) is spent feeling confused, but on ocassion (every other day :D) that dumb feeling sneaks in and rears its head (humility, i guess), anyway, welcome back.
A brief flash
of a few weeks of blazing color refresh the palate of my mind. So soon it is all greys, whites and blues of winter bluster.
this scenario brought to you courtesy of reality....
or "roadside entertainment". what some people will do for laughs is simply amazing. i'm driving home today on a two-lane county hwy. and i see something shiny up ahead on the side of the road. as i get close to it, i slow down and start laughing; the shiny object is a big "get well soon" mylar balloon floating about 3 ft. above the roadkill deer to which it was tied :D . I'm still laughing trying to picture the thought process of the tie-er.
thanks for the hilarious mindblow today whoever you are!
French wine
Just bought some good red wines from southern France: anyone a conniseur on such ?
---------------------------------------(-----@
A Tale to Tell
Jesus and I chanced to cast with
a rod lovingkindness once again.
Being in centermindedness during
fabulous supplication it harnessed
the white caps of the swift river that
are captured by the clouds then
dispersed as the rain and snow til
it's alight upon that which the supplication
was for.
Immense supplication is the network in
our energy chain that keeps the supplication
worthy of the time and moment spent
therein.
It creates intent, fervour. and zeal. It not only
stems from all that you are but everything
you can not be, except by supplication alone.
Wishes are like supplication as they hope for
some very special good thing to be or occur.
Well...Jesus and I were in the depths of
festive supplication and I put on my lovelight
for Bobby's birthday...wishing every good
thing to him and all, of course, xo!
Jesus was in awe at me loving all the
people around, and for knowing love was
everywhere. He good-heartedly gave
me a second of the day; one second as
a gift for me remember the moment by. Wow.
There are months in a year that bring awareness
and days that highlight a specific historic person,
place or thing. I was given a second. I was to
pick the significance it should have. The warmth
of arriving therein was delightful.
After some deliberating, I decided to give this
present given unto me to Bobby for a birthday
gift. I have chosen the 1st second of the 16th
minute of the 10th hour in the pm time of any time
zone everyday for Bob Weir. As each night meets
the tick of the first second after quarter after ten,
Bobby Weir will be celebrated and his birthday
forever celebrated.
The clock and the calendar will host a special time
for him from here on out. This second will be one
that is lovingkindness, joy and peace. Be assured
there is a perfect second everyday for us all, xo.
got a second?
Happy Birthday Bob Weir
-Jesus loves you the best...
Most of the Time
10:16:01
----------------------------10:16:01-------(-----@
A perfect second,everyday.
10:16:01 pm forever.
Birthday Lovelight Daily
to you and of course, ya all, xo!
saturday night / sunday morn oct. 20 -21.......
another chance to be amazed and humbled simply by looking up to the night time sky and witnessing the orionid meteor shower tonight...... (sans clouds hopefully).
we are a tiny lot, indeed........
glow..........
"to be alive requires a constant expenditure of energy"
-m. nadakavukaren
I Need some vibes
Oh friends i haven't been around in a while couldn't find the vibes area But let me tell you about my shitty year. Well early this year i had some what of a melt down and was put in the hospital for observation. While i was lying there in my sick bed. I realized how bad i allowed my physical, mental and spiritual health get. I said to myself stop this , your a dad, a husband, and member of great community. So i told my wife i was sorry and started making major changes in my life first i worked on my diet, i was up to 2 zantac a day doc said you are burning a whole in your esophogus if you don't change your diet. Then i started doing yoga which is amazing. Then i started volunteering in my community. Sounds great so far. then. my wife and i went house shopping thats it honey this year is our year i vowed to make things wright so here we go.Then i get laid off from my job ( woorking now as a temp) 2 weeks before we go to get our home loan she says I want a divorce i have been cheating on you with dan. WHAT well i have feeling this way for years just didn't want to hurt you. BLAH BLAH BLAH so now i sit here trying to rebuild my life and i only have three months to do it. Then to top it all off i need to find another job because i work 3rd shift and i am taking custody of the kids. SO please send me some good vibes i could realy use them.
oh yikes noonie
so sorry to hear all this. Mega good vibes to you. Keep us posted.
make a wish :) ............
the leonid meteor shower , after midnight, morning of nov. 17, historically promises to be the best of the year. the eastern night time sky from midnight to dawn. hope you don't have clouds.
we got rain here
which is supposed to go on all weekend, pretty much.
Hey, we need it, but bummer about the visibility.
geminid meteor shower......
nights of 12/13 - 14 (peak) and 12/14 -15 (very good, too). last of the year and with a new moon (and no clouds) promises to be a good one (up to 50/hour). good viewing anytime after dark but best viewing after midnight. boilermakers help to make the stay outside tolerable..... maybe stay off the roof, though..... :D
.........wishes, wishes :)
Noonie
I will do a Medicine Buddha puja for you so that you might heal in physical and mental aspects. Please know that this is not the end of the world. Out of the ashes of the old many good things can come and usually do. In the short term are challenges and raw emotions that are difficult to confront. Please know that this suffering is the expiation of your negative karma IF you calmly accept that nothing can happen to you which you don't already deserve.
The cards you have to play right now are ever so hard and the urge to lash out is so easy to give into. Don't give in. Stay strong and stick with a plan for the future. Sometimes it is necessary to rely on the kindness of strangers. These strangers may have very important points for you to glean.
I can't speak to your particular situation, but I can sympathize that it had been a really crappy year that isn't over yet. I hope the Medicine Buddhas and their retinues allow you the space to vitally heal and bring you to a better place than before. Never give up, three kids depend on you...
Dancing Bears Repeating
This was written by Robert Hunter to be read over the air at a Grateful Dead NYE concert broadcast from Kaiser Auditorium in 1986. The last two lines vary to rhyme with the year.
The Boxes of Dr. Spasmodious
Dr. Spasmodious sat at his desk,
the end of the year drawn nigh,
haunted, harried, full of gloom,
watching the seconds die.
The maid behind him sloshed her mop
in a bucket of silvery suds;
unborn children watched through a crack
in the floor of the attic above.
We were together, you and I,
with other children yet to be born,
between the ages, if not in life,
one to the other, eternally sworn.
You, frail and fair as a lily,
held my hand by light of the moon,
pale beams brightly spilling
on boxes all over the room -
boxes heavy with dust of the dead,
time and decay - all but one:
tied with a shining bit of thread
fine as a baby's hair and red.
"Tell me your prophecy, Maid of the Mop,"
said the Doctor downstairs below,
"What's simple to you is subtle to me.
What sort of year will this coming year be?"
She shook a spark from her long red hair
which flew like a star to his tree
"Spring will be damp and Summer dry
and Autumn come presently . . ."
So saying, she bound her flowing hair
with a ribbon of scarlet twine,
returned to mopping the floor away
until nothing remained but shine.
Down we came with cautious tread
you, I, and all of the others -
bearing the box tied with a thread
fine as a baby's hair and red.
The maid once more unloosed her hair,
gray now as clouds when laden with rain.
You she chose, took by the hand,
allowed, out of all, to remain.
The rest she kissed both sides of the cheek
as the chimes of the New Year dinned,
one by one sent each through the door
to dissolve in the rain and wind.
Dr. Spasmodious watched from his chair
on the point of a tear but refrained.
He smiled instead, held out his arms
to you who were spared from the rain.
"Welcome my child to life again,
to the kingdom of hope and pain.
Ring in the New, Two Thousand and Five
May grace prevail and we survive!"
Other endings have included:
Two Thousand and Six! Ring in the year!
Deliver us peace and freedom from fear."
Let two thousand and seven arrive;
may grace prevail and we survive!"
From http://www.whitegum.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/BOXESDRS.HTM
Happy St. Stephen's Day!
Enjoy the garden and don't make too many people complain...
And Happy Boxing Day too.
But don't make too many people complain, marye? Where's the line, I'm wondering?
Robert Hunter's words
Sadly elegant. The Dead, the unborn, becoming...
Dr. Spasmodious & the prophetic mop maid. Worthy and perhaps inspired by Bob Dylan.
This land is too sad and we knew it too. Still we danced with the dead, the dead also peeking from around the corner.
-------------------------------------------(-----@
Well, it's...
10:16:01
A Perfect
Second on
This Night.
a true pioneer goes home....
"Gerda Lerner, a pioneer in the field of women's history and founding member of the National Organization for Women died Thursday in Madison, Wisconsin at the age of 92. Gerda was born in Austria to a privileged Jewish family in 1920, and spent six weeks in a Nazi prison as a teenager. She later wrote that the experience taught her how society manipulates people, a lesson she saw reinforced by academics who suggested history was only about men.
She and her family fled the Nazi's and came to the U.S.in 1939. She earned her Ph.D. in history in 1966 at Columbia University and eventually established the first graduate program in women's studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. Later she moved to Madison where she founded a doctoral program in women's history at the University of Wisconsin."
Now with 101 women in the 113th Congress (includes 3 nonvoting members), one can only wonder how many women (and men) did this one very intelligent and determined woman inspire in her lifetime.
See how everything lead up.....