I’ll have the bacon, eggs spam, spam & spam

Spam.  It’s become a fact of on-line life.  You ignore it.  You fight it.  You block it.  But it keeps coming.  What is it about this old post that draws the spammers?  Is it the word “trophy”?  Is it the word “wife”?  Why are poker sites and on-line pharmacies picking on this simple little account of one day in my life?

Delete. Delete. Delete.  The new mantra of my existence.

But I’m still curious  why it’s that particular post that is a spam pheromone.  Anyone got a clue?

NASA Announces New Astronaut Hiring for Those with the Right Stuff

Do you want to be an astronaut? Perfect timing. NASA is looking for talented professionals to carry on the great tradition of space exploration. Do you have the right stuff to be a real astronaut? Learn how you can join the astronaut class of 2008. It’s been several years since NASA was looking for new candidates with the right stuff. It takes and education, good health, and a sense of adventure to make the cut. I’ve outlined the details, linked to the job announcement, and give a few tips on how to navigate the application process. Why am I qualified to give advice on this? Because I wrote the software that processes your application. Read more»

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

It’s coming. International “Talk Like a Pirate Day” is coming. Avast ye maties! September 19th is two days away and you don’t want to be any where near me when it happens. I will be the most obnoxious guy you’ve ever been around.

I will talk like a pirate. Swagger like a pirate. Even my dogs won’t know what to do with me.

I will eat at Arrrrrby’s and make necklaces out of the bones. Maybe I’ll eat baaaarrrrebeque and slop the mess all over my beard. (note to self…grow beard in the next two days.)

If it quacks like a pirate, walks like a pirate, smells like a pirate…it must be a pirate. Have some fun y’all.

Enjoy this in interim.

Medieval Feminism

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that women held places of power in the ancient world. One example comes from a small, French village where in 1258 a local religious woman rose to the position equivalent to mayor. Few of her abilities were regarded more highly than her piety and wisdom. For this she was given the title “Nun the Wiser.”

She selected a young protégé from the village to whom she could impart her wisdom and skills. Of course, this young girl became known as “Nun the Less.”

And that children is your history lesson for today.

Puppy breath

I’ve been giving my dog Breath Busters dog treats in hopes that it would freshen his breath. Now that we have a second pup, I cheaped out, like I do, and bought some generic treats. I thought, “The old boys breath ain’t that sweet anyway. I don’t think these are working.”

Now the old man won’t touch the new treats. Worse yet, I now remember why I bought the Breath Busters in the first place. I only thought his breath was bad. Now that he isn’t getting his old treats I can’t tell which end that smell is coming from.

So the $2.09 I saved buying the generic treats went right in the trash can. Back to the store for those Breath Buster treats. It may not make his breath smell like a Spring day, but the alternative is ass breath.

Life Lesson #16

Never fight naked unless forced to in prison.

I think we can all see the wisdom there and agree on that maxim.

Associate Content Tip of the Day 2 Sept 2007: HTML Special Characters

Basic HTML makes creating special and non-Latin alphabetic characters easy. These characters are created by using the “&” symbol followed by the HTML code for the character and terminated with a semi-colon. For example the Spanish enyay (n with a tilde above) in HTML is ñ (without the spaces).

Knowing just a little HTML can get you through some tough spots. Many web sites, like Associated Content and WordPress, support basic HTML. At AC, simply turn off the built-in editor and you can use some of the basic HTML tags and character codes.

Here is a brief, but not exhaustive list of some of the more common special characters.
" = "
& = &
< = &lt;
> = &gt;
¿ = &iquest;
À = &Agrave;
à = &agrave;
Á = &Aacute;
á = &aacute;
 = &Acirc;
â = &acirc;
à = &Atilde;
ã = &atilde;
Ä = &Auml;
ä = &auml;
Å = &Aring;
å = &aring;
Æ = &AElig;
æ = &aelig;
Ç = &Ccedil;
ç = &ccedil;
È = &Egrave;
è = &egrave;
É = &Eacute;
é = &eacute;
Ø = &Oslash;
ø = &oslash;
Ñ = &Ntilde;
ñ = &ntilde;
¼ = &frac14;
½ = &frac12;
¾ = &frac34;
¢ = &cent;

For a more complex tag you can combine the the letters “TM” with the code to superscript and make the font smaller:

<FONT SIZE=”-1″><SUP>TM</SUP></FONT> which renders ^TM

You can find the complete list of codes for special characters at WebMonkey