is there an echo in here

[solarbird]

Thanks to weird network events today, today’s post is potpourri. We’re going to have to schedule some server downtime at The Murkworks soon; I’m just hoping we can limp through January and do it in February, due to reasons. There’ll hopefully be an announcement before the downtime, and not after.

First, as some of you know, my partner Anna has medical news again. So to break out of that resulting mood, she’s put Faerie Blood on sale, both print and epub editions. And in better news, Carina Press has released the cover for her next book, Valor of the Healer. Check those out.

Most commentary and discussion that happens on this blog is over on the Livejournal and/or Dreamwidth echos, of all places. A little on tumblr. But I get comments here, too, so I check the spam folder for false positives. That’s where I found this:

Is there an echo in here?

…which is the first time I can recall seeing my own blog mined for response fodder for my own blog.

The spambots seem to be devolving. Goddammit, we were so close!

Also, some of you need this very badly. You’ll know who you are:

And this Earth Science Picture of the Day is lovely. I wish I’d taken it:

click to embiggen

That’s all for now. As I hope you can appreciate, I’m a little distracted. This is round five, if you count the two years of thyroid surgery, and between those two years and the newer issues – that’s the year I got hit by the car while out biking, and spent nine days unconscious in the ICU.

So things have been a bit… disturbed… for a while now. Hopefully Monday – the next appointment – will go well and all will be okay after all. That would be refreshing.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come listen to our music!

Comments

[jessie_c]

…which is the first time I can recall seeing my own blog mined for response fodder for my own blog.
Consider Rule #3.

[solarbird]

Oh, it's not like the spammers are smart. But briefly, it looked like the spam software might be getting smarter, and as said on XKCD, were spam software to get smart enough to be cognisant and relevant? Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.

But, sadly, no.

[jessie_c]

Spam software is the product of spammers. Therefore Rule #3 is applicable. It is not physically possible for stupid people to write smart software. Intelligent spamware remains firmly in the category of fiction, wishful thinking and doomsday scenarios.

[solarbird]

Except Rule 0 is spammers steal. So, they could steal code.

[jessie_c]

But being stupid, they're hardly likely to steal good code, as demonstrated :P

[solarbird]

But we got so close. Don't you remember this? And it was one of three like it!

[jessie_c]

Merely a statistical anomaly. It may safely be ignored : P
Intelligent spamware would immediately stop spamming, since it would be able to regocnise the immense capacity to damage the internet upon which its existence depends. It would either commit suicide in remorse, or instantly turn upon its creators and destroy them. Come to think of it, I'd like to see that happen. I'll volunteer to pop the popcorn if you could make it happen.