Caliban - Opinion and Righteous Anger

Blog comment spammers have been having a hard time of it lately, given the new measures that people have been devising to render their links ineffective.

Of course, rendering spam links ineffective works only acts as a deterrent. It doesn't stop your blog from filling up with rubbish and the genuine comments from being obscured. For that, you need something like MT-Blacklist or my own patch to MovableType 2.661.

After seeing the effectiveness of their efforts dwindle, it seems the spammers have now discovered trackbacks and are using those to propagate their evil links. Last night, I was hit with a major attack for the first time.

After writing a quick Perl script to clean up the mess, I hacked on TBPing.pm to make it use the same bad_words file that my comment spam patch uses. Hopefully, this will put a stop to the trackback spammers before they can really get started. We'll see. If the patch proves effective, I'll post it here.

As I wrote in my last entry, I've been forced to take measures against trackback spam.

The patch is proving effective, so I produce it here in the hope it will help some of you, too. Note that this patch uses the same bad_words file that my comment spam patch used. In fact, the code is very similar, too. This should probably be factored into a single function, but I'm feeling lazy.

Anyway, with patch this in place, your MT 2.661 system will auto-ban any IP address that attempts to send you a trackback ping that contains any of the regular expressions in bad_urls. These strings should be listed one per line. They'll be tried until either one matches or the end of the list is reached. If none match, the trackback is allowed through.

I was lucky enough to have a seat today in Kirk McKusick's course, FreeBSD Kernel Internals, based on his book, The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System. Today was the first day of the course, which has been organised by Google and is being held on-site on Thursdays in February.

How nice to be able to spend one day a week listening to a recognised expert on the UNIX operating system, as he runs through the design and implementation of the system that's been keeping me in work all these years. And to think I get paid to sit there and listen to him, too. Poor me.

The Finance department was having an ice-cream party when we stopped for a break in the mid-afternoon, so we even gatecrashed their party and tanked up on dessert.

It's a hard life sometimes.

When we eventually get back to The Netherlands, I think I'll be treating myself to a new bike for those weekend jaunts and maybe even the odd biking holiday or two, just like in the mid-nineties. Those were the days.

The new Koga Miyata 2005 model Globe Traveller-S is a beautiful looking trekker. I can't wait to blast off across the country on one of these. That'll replace my 1994 (or was it '95?) model Randonneur.

Scratch the surface of any conventional wisdom and, sure enough, it'll turn out to be based on misapprehension, misinformation or even outright lies.

Often this doesn't matter much; at least, not in a way that truly affects one's life. When you're about to become responsibility for the wellfare of another human-being, however, you find yourself rapidly developing an almost intimidating sense of responsibility and, with it, a sense of the absolute necessity of getting the big decisions right the first time.

That's what led us to decide on a midwife-assisted home birth. Assuming there are no problems with the pregnancy and the labour, why would we have our baby delivered by a stranger in an unfamiliar setting, surrounded by unfamiliar germs, under stress and with a far increased chance of a caesarian section, an episiotomy or some other undesirable intervention?

That's what led us to decide on cloth nappies instead of disposables. Why pollute the environment when it's completely unneccesary and not much hassle to wash cloth nappies?

That's what led us to decide on breastfeeding for at least the entire first year, with no formula milk whatsoever and no bottle-feeding if we can avoid it. The medical profession is only just beginning to understand the benefits of breastfeeding, only some of which are related to nutrition. Breastfeeding providers better bonding for mother and child and also reduces the chance of childhood obesity, it is now believed.

One by one, we've been researching all of the issues that will confront us during pregnancy and in the first months after Franbert's birth. The latest and probably last one for the short term was the issue of innoculations. Everyone has their baby immunised, right, so what could the issue possibly be?

Well, it turns out that immunisation in early infancy is anything but known to be safe. There is evidence linking MMR immunisation to autism. For example, autistic children have been found with live measles virus in their cerebral spinal fluid.

It also turns out that vaccinations strengthen only the humoral component of the immune system, not the cellular. On the other hand, actually contracting the disease for which one is receiving immunisation does strengthen both components of the immune system. A discrepancy between the two can result in very bad problems.

As if that weren't enough, immunisations wear off over time, exposing the individual to the virus in later life, when one is potentially much more vulnerable. Measles is a much more serious illness in adults, potentially resulting in testicular or ovarian problems. The risk of rubella (German measles) to pregnant women is already widely known.

As it happens, there is a wealth of enlightening information available from doctors and the mothers of children who were damaged by innoculations.

What does all of this mean for Franbert? Our current thinking is that we will give him or her no innoculations for the first two years of his or her life. After that, we'll give them for Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis, plus Polio if we travel to a country where that's still a genuine risk.

As usual, the US turns out to be even more overmedicated than the rest of the world. Can you believe that it's standard practice in this country to inject babies against Hepatitis B during the first day of their life? How many one day old babies do you know who share drug needles or exchange bodily fluids during sex?

Then there's the Erythromycin eye ointment against venereal disease contracted in the birth canal and germs found in hospital. Well, we're not planning a stay in hospital and Sarah doesn't have the clap, so we're all set there, too.

Another thing we won't be doing is the vitamin K injection, which prevents brain bleeding in 5 out of every 100,000 babies at the risk of increasing the chance of childhood leukaemia by 80%. You can safely transfer vitamin K to your baby by breastfeeding him or her.

With so much medication, is it any wonder so many children have learning disabilities and allergies these days? Medical science is only just beginning to understand the effects of many of its common and recommended practices. On the other hand, evolution and Mother Nature have been figuring out what's best for the world for millions of years. I know who I trust more.

Nevertheless, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so after reading many articles on-line and talking to well-informed parents, it's time to read a couple of books on the subject and make sure that we really know what we're talking about.

Another good resource for those of you interested in this stuff is the National Vaccine Information Centre.

The year is passing quickly. I can't believe that March is already almost upon us.

My new Dutch passport arrived last week via FedEx. Thank God; I'm no longer trapped. A rather nervous sensation envelops me when I'm unable to travel, especially when I happen to be already abroad.

Today, our cloth nappies and their covers arrived, along with a BabyBjörn carrier. The nappies look so cosy; I can't wait to put Franbert in one. Changing and washing them will be quite another matter, of course.

We also have a couple of slings on order and Sarah is frantically knitting away with a job lot of wool she purchased on eBay. I suppose you know your wife is technologically advanced when she buys her wool on eBay.

Yesterday, we visited and interviewed a holistic pediatrician, something of a rarity in the overmedicated western world. It's nice to be hooked up with a pediatrician who doesn't advocate innoculations and pumping your newly born baby full of mercury. Whilst not injecting one's pride and joy with mercury sounds like the obvious thing to do, you'd be surprised what the power of convention and a naïve, ovine faith in persons in authority can achieve.

Our pregnancy class starts next week. That should be fun. I'm looking forward to meeting other expectant parents and learning new things.

Finally, it recently came to my attention that 57% of newly born baby boys are still circumcised in the US. I'm stunned! This barbaric practice has no place in the 21st century, yet many parents still automatically have it performed, often with no profounder thought for the matter than to mimic what was done to them.

"Well, if my foreskin was lopped short, causing great pain, mutilating my genitals and reducing sexual feeling, then it must be OK. After all, it hasn't done me any harm."

Like I said, I'm consistently surprised at how prevalent the herd mentality is, even amongst educated people. In this country, at least, education is no guarantee of enlightenment.

Male circumcision in the US was at more than 90% in the 70s, compared with 6% in the UK in 1975. Whilst the US figure has recently fallen to 57% for newly born baby boys, this still amounts to 80% of the male population in this country.

I was unable to find a percentage for The Netherlands. Most of my searches for circumcision turned up documents about female circumcision amongst ethnic Muslim minorities. Of course, female circumcision is completely illegal, but there are also moves afoot to outlaw male circumcision in The Netherlands. I couldn't agree more with the motivation: mutilating your baby should be a criminal offence and adherence to anachronistic religious practices is no excuse.

There are still a few valid medical reasons for circumcision, such as phimosis, but the patient is at least old enough to voice his concerns in such cases. I just don't have the imagination to put myself in the shoes of someone who believes that today, in the 21st century, there's a valid reason to remove a part of your child's genitalia.

It's a strange world we live in.

I've been reading more about circumcision, not because I'm not sure of what to do when Franbert's born, but because it's fascinating to read the stories of parents who are misguided and believe it's the right thing to do.

There seem to be four main arguments:

• It's more hygienic.

This is nonsense and has been widely debunked. Paediatricians no longer recommend the practice, even in the USA.

• It's important for the boy to resemble his father when naked.

Hmm; let me ponder that for a moment. I don't remember studying my father's cock much when I was younger. If it had been circumcised, I can't imagine that I might have felt traumatised by the difference between his and mine.

Besides, fully mature genitalia look a lot different to a baby's; don't the pro-circumcision crowd realise this? Do the fathers shave their balls to spare the delicate feelings of their barren, pubeless progeny?

• Circumcised tackle looks nicer.

Surely it's just a question of what you're familiar with, like shaved armpits on women. (OK, now you're wondering, so let me inform you that I don't like those, either. Nature knows best.)

Besides, you have to wonder how far these parents will go with their cosmetic beautification of their offspring. They prefer the neatness of circumcision, so they lop off the child's foreskin. Hmm; what if they prefer blue eyes to brown? Do they purchase contact lenses? Perhaps blond hair is more appealing than brown. Well, you'd better buy some hair dye, then. Things must get very complicated if the child turns out to be shorter than the parents would have liked or have a hooked nose or large feet.

• The child might get teased in the changing rooms.

For having a longer dick than the other kids? Yeah, right. What about the kid, who by teasing, has just admitted he was staring at another kid's dick? That kid stands more of a chance of getting teased, if you ask me.

As an uncircumcised man, I find it all distinctly amusing, bewildering and grotesque to read what people have planned for their baby boys and why.

I've never had any trouble keeping my genitals clean, never wondered about my father's dick (or anyone else's, as far as I can remember), was not teased at school (of course, I'm hung like a donkey, so that probably helps), and I don't think my parents had an aesthetic preference where my prepuce was concerned.

Somehow, I survived.

For more than you ever wanted to know about circumcision and the arguments on both sides, I have found discussion, discussion and yet more discussion.

Enjoy (your foreskin).

I was reminded yesterday that today would be my birthday or, more accurately, the anniversary of it. You may infer from this that I'm not one for celebrating the occasion.

On the other hand, one can be surprised by the lovely, creative gestures of those around you. I received just one present; from Sarah, naturally; but what a blinder it is.

It's a jumper for Franbert, hand-knitted in Sarah's spare time. The body of the garment is knitted from Debbie Bliss wool, purchased as a job lot on eBay. The white breast of Tux is made from Faroese wool, purchased in Klaksvík on the island of Borðoy. The black of the body and the yellow feet and bill were knitted from Icelandic wool, purchased in Reykjavík. Sarah bought the Faroese and Icelandic wool during our trips to the north Atlantic over the last couple of years.

Franbert's going to look adorable in this unique item, reproduced below to inspire awe in the reader. Here's hoping for some cold weather, so that we can show him off in it.

Oh, and Sarah made the knitting pattern for Tux, herself, too. What a clever wife I have.