This blog gets tons of spam posted to the comments, so I’ve got the prefs set up so that all comments have to be approved by me before posting unless they’re from a user I’ve previously approved.  So your first comment won’t show up immediately.

In addition, I auto-trash any comment post that includes key words that are common in spam posts. Unfortunately, it’s possible that a genuine comment might get filtered that way, and I’d never see it and have a way to approve it.  So if you want to post a comment including a mention of Paris Hilton or something, best to email it to me directly (joe at deltatao.com), and I’ll post it somehow.

Here’s my spam word filter list.  I wish my filters kept track of how often each of this was triggered.

hotmail.com
gmail.com
viagra
cialis
hydrocodone
pamela anderson
sex video
amoxicillin
xanax
percocet
adderal
soma
ambien
vicodin
ephedra
valium
tramadol
phentermine
animal sex
fioricet
ultram
animal porn
dog sex
ritalin
lolita
incest
forced rape
tylenol
wellbutrin
fucking
sex toy
rape
zoloft
ephedrine
acomplia
horse sex
nicole richie
propecia
lindsay lohan
selina watkins
paris hilton
zoo sex
anal insertions
hardcore
multilocular
ringtones
payday loans
pseudomembrane
sex with
online pharmacy
penis

Since filtering all those words, the number of comments I’ve had to deal with has dropped markedly.  I have no idea why pseudomembrane and multilocular show up as spam words all the time.

Eric’s Ultimate Solitaire includes quite a few Easter eggs (holiday card backs and the like), but the one that causes the most consternation (even more than the black invasion of Martin Luther King day) is on Friday the 13th.

Ultimate’s cards normally fly to their destination on a graceful sweeping curve, settling into their spot with a satisfying thunk. But on Friday the 13th (about twice a year), the cards fly in sort of an S curve, overshooting slightly before veering back and hitting their spot.

We thought it was funny and cute, but we get dozens of calls every time it happens.  “My cards are going crazy!”  And there must be thousands more who are concerned, but don’t call.

When I tell people that it’s Friday the 13th, most of the time they are delighted and laugh. This morning one man said, “Do you really believe that?  You are a superstitious fool.”  I wonder if he’ll be superstitious once it fixes itself tomorrow.

I’ve always found it strange that when you book a nonstop flight, the cost is often higher than the cost to a further destination that stops at your true destination halfway.

For example, Mary’s flying to Charlotte, North Carolina this summer.  To go direct from Sacramento to Charlotte costs $509 one-way.  But to go from Sacramento to Boston, with a stop in Charlotte, is only $219 from the same airline (US Airways).  Oops, I missed my connection!

Hardly seems efficient.  I found the same thing in Hong Kong.  I wanted to fly to Vietnam, but it annoyed me that a flight to Bangkok with a stop in Vietnam was a third the price of the flight straight to Vietnam.

I got this shirt for four Pop Tarts box tops (not even any shipping charge!).  I love it, but I’m pretty confused about exactly what the tarts are doing.  The Rambo tart in the tree seems to have frightened the island tarts.

Mary says the Rambo tart only has one testicle.