Some parts are meat

Ok, I turned off the captcha for comments on my blog because, frankly, I hate typing them in when I leave comments, or increasingly, do ANYTHING online.  (aside:  I'll bet there are some clever AI programmers out there doing Turing tests on captcha solving programs).

As a result, I get a few strange anonymous comments from time to time.  Whatevs, gives me the impression that someone actually reads this.

But what gets me are the seeming randomness of these quotes (c.f. Turing test).  I understand that they are spam, but I can't for the life of me figure out how they propose to work.

Let's take some examples.  The first one is this:

Sustain this wonderful text, went ahead and added to my chrome feed.

Ok.  Maybe someone's learning English and used Google translate to tell me to keep writing these wonderful posts (sustain)??  Yay to my ego.

But then there's these next two, in succession:

Car and truck insurance plan seriously isn't unbelievably unique. Dependent which always state level you live around, it should indeed be a good slighter or maybe a better section of your budget rather than your friends across condition strains. What is the minimal for one's state? I've discovered this internet site handy to determine low-cost auto insurance. I am very happy be here.

And

Lot of information about how to get cheap auto insurance? Getting your first car insurance policy may not be a priority but it should be. Car insurance protects one of your first investments, your car. But car insurance can be complicated and often new car insurance shoppers fail to compare car insurance rates and in turn fail to reap the financial benefits of finding the best and affordable car insurance available to them. Information here is great. Love to come back again. 

I am really glad that these people (read, one person) (read, one program) are happy to be here.  By here, do they mean the Internets?  My Blog?  The Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Now, suppose I was really interested in buying car insurance, because, after all, it should be a priority.  How can I use these random posts (on a blog about the use of shit on TV) to access the broker they are promoting?  There's no link in the text, the commenter is "anonymous".  There's no mention of brand at all.  In the first one, dude discovered a handy Internet site that will get me the minimal for the state I live around.  (what policy covers my various mental states?)

Also, would you seriously buy car insurance from someone who can't write proper English?  (In Communist Russia, insurance drives YOU!)  Although, it does look like my insurance seller has managed to graduate from their first TOEFL class between comments 1 and 2.  At least #2 makes more sense.

Wait - I just got it - I wonder if I had monetized my blog (p.s., how laughable is that?) - it would now be pulling in car insurance ads.  Maybe the random spamming of letters tells adsense to pull their specific ad.  (I'm pretty sure I'm right on this one).  Maybe I should monetize and see.  But The Facebook is too cool and I don't even know what it is yet (sorry, watched The Social Network last night).

Which reminds me - do you remember when that virus/spam went around a couple of years ago that had as a subject line "I love you" with an infected zip file attached?  I remember hearing on the news about how some senior executives and top level government officials were infected.  Which makes me think:  do I really trust my elected representative when they gladly open an email from an unknown source that says "I love you"?

Maybe it's lonely at the top.  I only open "I love you" emails from my wife.  And maybe sometimes my mistresses.

Eponymous

One thing I love is when lyrics in a song are the title of the album.

Now, I'm not talking about the cop-out, where the chorus of the song is the name of the song and is also the name of the album (see Fully Completely by the Hip).  I'm talking about those obscure lyrics, when, once you hear them, you can be all "Hence the title".

Some notable examples:

Metric - Sick Muse - "All the blonds/blinds? are/of? fantasies"
Metric (again!) - I.O.U. - "Old world underground, where are you now?"
U2 - Bullet the Blue Sky - "In the locust wind, comes a rattle and hum" (Rattle & Hum version only applies)
Beastie Boys - Get it Together - "Like Ma Bell, I've got the ill communication"
Dave Matthews Band - The Best of What's Around - "playing under the table and dreaming"
I Mother Earth - Three Days Old  - "the scenery and fish, they're bad" (also wins for being a stupid lyric)
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit - "oh well, whatever, nevermind"

So go out, dear friends, and relish those rare moments when a band doesn't default to a silly song title as the album title.  But really, p.s., who listens to albums anymore anyway?

Weekly cooking - Australian special

In honour of Greg's birthday, we're doing an all-Australian cooking special today.  This past weekend, the Heart-Ds had a Christmas party at their house.  As a special surprise, Dani asked Kathryn and I to put together a spread of Australian food to surprise Greg.

No problem!

We got some pointers from Dani and went to school researching some recipes.  In the end, here's what we made:

Mini Meat Pies - How can you possibly go wrong here.  Meat, onions, gravy - cooked inside pastry.

Peppered Camembert Dampers - Again - totally good.  Think Australian bannock, plus pepper, plus Camembert.  Whilst making the dough, I didn't think that there was enough pepper.  When it came time to knead the dough, I realized that, yes indeed, there was enough before I added a ton more.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Anzac biscuits - These are like coconut oatmeal cookies, with white chocolate on the top (or rather, bottom).  Excellent because the chocolate covers the burnt bits.

Cheese and Vegemite Scrolls - These used the quintessential Australian ingredient.  It was thick, brown and smelled nasty.  But, when combined with cheese and pastry, it tasted really good.

And finally, the kicker:

Fairy Bread - And yes, I printed this recipe.  If you're like me, and the thought of Battenburg cake makes you salivate and not nauseate.  (Sorry, it rhymed) - then you will probably like this.  Otherwise, give it a pass.

Anyway, here's the spread.  I think Greg was appreciative.