Monthly Archives: September 2006

Latin Goodness

A BoingBoing contributor interprets a Latin sign on a church wall as being a threat, but the "memento mori" message is a Medieval reminder to us that we are mortals. Rather, I think the message is really a reminder to those goofing off outside that the fun won't last forever (and therefore they should consider going into the Church to help ensure a pleasant eternal hereafter!).

Leeching and Scraping

Those WordPress users interested in stopping sploggers and their ilk from scraping/leeching their content might like this plugin.

AntiLeech helps prevent content theft by sploggers.

AntiLeech does not prevent the splogger bots from accessing your site. It produces a fake set of content especially for them that includes links back to your site (and mine, too, ok?) and sends it only to them. When they steal this content, it appears online just like normal, except now you've turned the tables on them and have provided them with useless content.

I've been using it for a couple weeks now and am quite pleased. It detected the Pittsburgh News (not to be confused with Pittsburgh Bloggers) user agent and I have instructed it to deliver gibberish to that agent.

Clearing the Air

Woohoo! The Allegheny County Council has passed a ban on smoking in public buildings (Fedora Tip: The Burgh Blog )! I guess smokers will have to find another way to get their fix away from home . 😉

Addendum: I keep hearing that it's not the government's job to protect us from harmful substances. Really? Then what's the point of the FDA?

"The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." – Abraham Lncoln

I'd argue that addiction weakens the will sufficiently that individuals lose the ability, partialy or totally, to protect themselves.

Update: Just hours after the county passed the ban, the PA state senate exempted casinos from all smoking bans . What a crock of $#*%! Now the county ban is in jeopardy. Why do casinos deserve preferential treatment over bars and restaurants? Stupid greedy politicians. I guess now there's another reason to sweep more incumbents out .

2006 Great Race 10K

Sometimes it's good when the weather forecast is wrong. For the past couple days, forecasters had been calling for thunderstorms during the Great Race. The most we actually got was a drizzle and some stiff wind. The downside of that was intense humidity, which tends to suck the life out of me. Dropping the towel I'd brought to wipe my sweat at the very beginning of the race was a little frustrating given the humidity.

Despite the less than ideal weather, I have nothing to be disappointed about. I finished in 54:02.28 (8:43 pace) according to my watch (54:01, officially) – 1885/4128 finishers, 181/267 men 25-29. My mile splits were as follows.

  1. 8:56.16 (slow start, starts uphill, ends downhill)
  2. 8:18.63 (mostly downhill)
  3. 8:49.13 (mostly uphill)
  4. 9:07.95 (mostly downhill)
  5. 9:11.52 (uphill)
  6. 7:53.32 (downhill)
  7. 1:45.57 (downhill)

The section I need to work hardest on next year is mile 4. There's no good reason for me to be running that slow downhill. My goal for next year is average 8:30/mile or better.

BTW, a funny thing happened on the way to the starting line. A van pulled up next to the sidewalk I was on and honked. The driver wanted to know if I could guide his son to the starting line. I agreed. As we walked I asked him a little about how far he runs, how fast, etc. He's a 16-year-old cross-country runner who'd never raced farther than 5K. He said his 5K times are typically around 19-20 minutes. I knew then he'd be kicking my butt in this race. 😉 And boy oh boy did he. He finished in 44:04 Congratulations, kid. 🙂

Paging Mustapha Mond

Increasingly, Couples Use Embryo Screening  

"More and more couples are turning to an embryo-screening technique that allows them to choose the genetic makeup of their children, according to a survey released yesterday in the online edition of the journal Fertility and Sterility."

"Son, we love you, especially since you turned out just like the clinic promised you would."

Oh brave new world, that hath such people in't…*shudder*