Forms

Apart from making the occasional entry in this blog, I also make the occasional web site, such as http://www.britishunitedartists.com/ , http://www.cwfstudio.com/ , http://www.actingcourses.net/ (at which I also maintain the blog)... I mention this because web sites require e-mail links or forms of some sort, and this presents a problem: spammers. Spammers fill in the forms, usually automatically, or they harvest the e-mail addresses for later use by a zillion zombies.

I have tried various php solutions but they basically don't work because server administrators change their settings seemingly every week and whatever automated form-to-mail solution I try stops working within days unless I can host the site on my own server, which I cannot. I have better things to do than keep changing the code on numerous web sites.

I have tried obfuscating the e-mail address; this works to some extent, but as spammers' robots get more sophisticated, this solution will not work forever.

Then I found formsmarts.com. They provide a number of simple solutions from a challenge-response web page to a hosted html form which should be compatible with all systems. Fingers crossed, but it seems to be working smoothly enough at the moment!

The Meaning Of Life

Well, I suppose one can't talk about the meaning of life without thinking of Douglas Adams, for whom the answer appeared to have been "42" (in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"), and indeed, this web site does just that. But he also indirectly makes an important point about the alternative philosophy of nihilism, which states that life, and indeed everything, is meaningless: if everything is meaningless, then so is the idea that everything is meaningless... In other words, the idea that life is worthless is a worthless idea. To me, that means it is false, or might as well be. So nihilism is imploded by its own definition: if true, it must be false.

I expect that is arguable, but it seems close enough for practical purposes. And the purpose of life - its meaning? Altruism. So there.

Here is a recent photo of Douglas Adams, taken at Highgate Cemetry in London.


And here is a quote from him:

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

On another subject, I rather liked this rather well-travelled photographer's travel photos. And the latest Batman movie trailer.

Democracy and Stuff

Here is a nice 90-second overview of the progress of "democracy" (of sorts) down through the ages, assuming that no tribal systems were democratic, I suppose. And assuming that the modern system of "representative democracy" actually counts given that most such governments seem to claim to listen then do what they like anyway (and then claim to wonder why voter turnout is so low).

The above flash movie comes from Maps Of War and there are several others to enjoy there. If history isn't your bucket of cheese, maybe you need 32 Keys to Life instead. Or maybe watch a movie trailer (one of them mentions cheese, by the way)? Finally a great photo of a forest fire.