Tagging this (original) for later use — it’s an implementation of a newish anti-spam concept, designed for qmail but I believe it could be adapted to procmail fairly easily. I want to let it go through a little user testing before I install it, though.

Declan McCullagh is on some strange Californian “let’s just relax” vibe lately; first it was his suggestion that geeks should ignore politics (original), and then his suggestion that the DMCA isn’t so bad (original). The first one, OK, I can see the argument that geeks are better suited to create social change by writing code… although his example is flawed, since Zimmerman went through a ton of political process to avoid being arrested. Declan also forgets the sad case of anon.penet.fi, which was effectively shut down by political pressures. It’s a shame Julf Helsingius didn’t worry more about the politics, no? ...

The director’s commentary for the Criterion edition of Traffic begins (literally) with a comment on the typeface used for the subtitles on the opening screen. Helvetica Light, because that’s what was used in All the President’s Men, for the record. How can I not love that particular bit of Soderbergh’s attention to detail? (The transfer, by the by, is gorgeous. I really want a digital television one of these days.)

What’s it like, being young and suddenly rich? Hard to imagine, for me at least, particularly if you were poor before. The seminar discussed in that article probably comes four years too late, though; you want to catch the rookies before they hit college, because that’s where the special privileges start. The techniques the NFL uses to guide these kids are nothing special. Not that different from what you read about in “scared straight” programs. They even bring in a former player and current felon to talk about the hell of prison. What’s interesting to me is the reaction of the rookies. That’s where the sociology is. ...

Grunt grunt mod_perl install grunt grunt hackery. Man, Apache is a pain in the butt. Anyways, works now. I can’t get the supposedly superfast Movable Type as a handler method to work, but it’s running OK as a CGI, and seems to be marginally faster. I’ll take what I can get and look forward to moving onto the G3.

The BBC had an article about interesting multi-region DVD players, which perhaps holds clues about the inevitable clash between the people who make content and the people who make devices to display that content. If DVD manufacturers can’t hold the multi-region line, what are the chances that computer makers will care long-term about Hollywood’s digital rights management demands?

Full Frontal probably goes down as a daring failure, but I can’t fault Soderbergh for experimenting. The problem is mostly that the experiment doesn’t have a center. The cinematographic tricks work well, and the acting is solid. But when all’s said and done, the lines between strata of reality have been blurred to no visible end.

“ All these facts (original) suggest that there may be, somewhere in United States government (or better yet, the privately-held Federal Reserve system), a department of gnostic artists who perform the priestly function of communicating between man and God.”

Tammy Baldwin appears to be fairly sensible for a politician.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie is called Punch-Drunk Love, and is due to hit theaters in October. As per normal for his films, he’s released little information about it — it’s a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson, and that’s about it. The site linked above now has three trailers, hiding behind the three words of the title. They are the most non-spoiling trailers I’ve ever seen. Cool stuff. Can’t wait.