I changed my Wiki URL from docs.cdrum.com to wiki.cdrum.com.  I am not sure why I originally named it docs.

And I managed to get my new hard disk encrypted with Truecrypt as a device.

Next up, figuring out how to automatically mount my encryoted device on boot up with a USB keyfile.  Or something like that…  Or maybe that defeats the purpose of encryption…

I was lazy and didn’t put any captions, but pictures speak a thousand words, right?

Chicago

Seattle

Enjoy. I’ve got Xiamen photos to upload at some point…

I don’t think so…

Time for a cease and desist?     (See here for the infringing URL)

I also upgraded WordPress to the newest version, 2.3.1.

The changes are a work in progress – I’ll be tinkering with things over the next several weeks.  Sorry if I break something…

I wrote a post about 3 weeks ago about the blocking of (access adjustments made to) Feedburner URLs in China. Rick from Feedburner was nice enough to submit a comment to my post. Rick basically said they know of the problem and are trying to work with the ISPs in China to find a workaround. (ok, those were my words from what I remember he wrote, I actually haven’t read his comment for ~3 weeks).

Well, so far, it’s still blocked. Best of luck to Feedburner/Google in hope these guys will start thinking rationally… Ain’t gonna work.

So, I ask this question: Why don’t website owners just host their own feeds? Many of these blogs, such as wordpress or moveable type, have the mechanics built-in already!

Could it be these Website owners want to get an accurate number of subscribers? Sorry, last I checked, feed subscriptions are passive. So the number of subscribers Feedburner provides (such as “you have 3823 subscribers”) is bogus. Please. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I don’t see any other reason to use Feedburner, exclusively. (Again, please, someone shed some light on this). Perhaps you want to monetize your feeds by placing ads? There are other ways to do this! (i.e. adding adsence code in your feeds).

If people insist on using Feedburner, or similar, why can’t you also provide a link to your original feed URL as well. Richard wised up and did this! (Thank’s Richard!) Bjorn also wrote about this.

What really erks me is China-focused blogs using Feedburner, only. Do these guys have any clue what’s going on in China??!

• Chinalyst – A nice feed aggregator for China-specific English blogs. Their main feed is using Feedburner. Are these guys even in China?
• Shanghaiist – You are a blog “about Shanghai”
• There’s many more, but I don’t think I need to waste my time listing all of them. Go to Chinalyst and look for yourself.

Let’s all wake up and not alienate your readers in China! (Those of us who are interested in China, who live in China, and who read your China-focused blogs)

And no, using Tor is not always an option, thank you.

Update Oct, 20:  Joel from Danwei left a rather sarcastic comment for this post which kind of put the jokes on me…  I apologize for somehow overlooking the fairly clear “china safe” feed links.  But my original question stands: why not host your own feed?

1. Fixed the flickr feed at the top (above this post). It should now show the recent photos I uploaded to flickr. It should..

2. I added a Plazer “badge” to the right under the About Me section. It should show where I am, provided I actually tell the plazer system where I am. It will be easier once they get a Smartphone client (damn symbian punks…)

OK, i guess that’s it for now…

So, I installed Spam Karma 2. A word of advice – DON’T run the filters on your already approved comments. Don’t! Somehow, I originally had 98 approved comments. Now I have 280+, and of course most of them are spam. crap.

I’ll be working to clean this mess over the next few days..

Update (few hours later): Ok, all of this is resolved.  Spam Karma 2 seems to be working fine.  Will observe it this week.

I am currently (finally) transfering my motorbike (CJ750) photos over to Flickr, and modifying the links on my Motorbike page work. I just uploaded the photos I took way back in the summer of 2004 at the Guinness Book of World Records attempt at the most number of side car motorbikes together. Enjoy.