Saturday, February 13, 2010

What are the OpenOffice Basic functions?

I just wrote an OpenOffice function and could not find the right documentation for Basic functions! Here's my documentation until I can find them.

  • To convert a string (eg. "3") into it's numeric value, use ASC (not ASCII nor VALUE).

Friday, February 5, 2010

Why the anonymous spam comments?

I've been getting a bunch of anonymous spam comments on my blogs, and I cannot figure out their intent. I'm not talking about the ones that include a link back to some online pharmaceutical; no, these are written by Anonymous without any link to any external site. And I'm pretty sure they're just automated; I'm sure some are because they've been posted on other blogs, both owned by myself and by others.

What would be the purpose of doing such a thing? I've looked around but can't figure out what they accomplish.

Here are some examples (you can see them on this post or on it's comment page):

  • It was very interesting for me to read the post. Thank author for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read more soon.
  • Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
  • Keep on posting such stories. I like to read stories like that. By the way add some pics :)
  • Hi, very useful tip! Thanks [originating here]

PS: here is another interesting example of spam. The comments (originating here) seem relevant to the topic and were posted twice with slightly different wording while it was in my moderation queue, but they're suspect because they include links to shopping sites and the thought sequence is exactly the same with just a few phrases modified. It is pretty good; they triggered this post about the other ones. Here are both comments for easy comparison:
  • My friend and I were recently talking about how modern society has evolved to become so integrated with technology. Reading this post makes me think back to that discussion we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.

    I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside... I just hope that as the price of memory decreases, the possibility of downloading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I daydream about almost every day.
  • My friend and I were recently discussing about technology, and how integrated it has become to our daily lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that discussion we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.

    I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside... I just hope that as technology further advances, the possibility of uploading our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I daydream about every once in a while.