"Cream Heaver"; Reverse Turing Test; "Truly Deplorable"

What an exhausting two days Monday and Tuesday were.

"Cream Heaver" may be the de facto standard for web site development and managment, but it has some odd quirks.

One of the strangest is the inability to alter the case of text. Frequently I'll receive information with parts or phrases in upper case. But I want to change it to first-letter-capitalized. Sounds simple. However, I've not found a way to do it. Yesterday, for over an hour, I carefully checked my manuals and searched online for an answer. No easy answer did I find. So I have to copy the text to another editor, make the changes, then copy it back.

One of the features of webbing is the ability to wrap text around a graphic. If you have multiple graphics and a small amount of text, you can have graphics wrapping around graphics. There's a simple tag that prevents this from happening. But I've been unable to access it. I've come across some references to using CSS to clear the wrap. But not in the way I want. I spent part of yesterday afternoon, trying to figure this one out and finally gave up. So I have to resort to hand coding.

Creating ram files to point to rm files is another strange adventure. The second you save the ram file, you can't edit it again. So I have to create and edit them in an external editor.

This morning, I got an e-mail about a broken link. I checked and discovered lots and lots of similiar broken links. At some point some files were re-named, but the links were not updated. I ran the link checker, but the results didn't show the problems I just encountered. So I had to do a selective find-and-replace.

Assume that you have a connection to a black box source. Which may be a human or a computer. If you're unable to tell if the source is a computer, the device has passed the Turing test. (This is my unworthy explanation, I'm sure.)

Several months ago, I came across an article in "PC Magazine" (December 30, 2003; page 76) about protecting online forms. It makes mention of a "reverse Turing test."

"A reverse Turing test gates registration upon a task that's relatively easy for people but daunting for automated systems; often that task is to read and input a series of letters that have been deformed or obscured in ways that challenge OCR systems but remain intelligible to most human users."

I thought this was fascinating. By the way, I think I've read something else that indicated that there were ways around this reverse test.

Every day, more and more is revealed indicating that the intelligence about Iraq was seriously flawed. The former cabinet member of the Bush administration indicated in his recently published book that the president had decided on an invasion prior to 9/11.

Now the president is asking for billions to rebuild Iraq. At the same time, we have poverty, hunger, homelessness, unemployment across the country. Bush's interest is BIG BUSINESS! He has become a morally bankrupt official whose premeditation far exceeds that of Richard Nixon.

I do believe this is my first political statement since starting the journal. Which shows how truly deplorable the situation has become.

PAX!