Weapons of Mass Distraction

Gretchen and I are about to head over to the Google / Blogger Party. We received a box of Raging Cow today, and I'll be bringing it with us to capture the reactions of daring bloggers as they absorb the moo juice. Robert just turned me on to SNARF! (a nice little news aggregator that doesn't install anything and fits within IE's sidebar). Wish I had more time to play with it; I've already suggested that the author support importing / exporting OPML documents. That'd make things infinitely easier for people like myself. If you can't visit my site at work, then at least you should be able to scrape the RSS feed and parse it. Huh? Read on.

I received this note from a Snozberry earlier: “A perfect example of why Internet filters suck. I am at school right now, subbing in a technology class, and I decided to read (and maybe show) your blog. When I tried to access your blog, this is what I got – a big honking ACCESS DENIED followed by: 'this site has been categorized as Weapons. It has been blocked per your organization's Internet Usage Policy for cipa 2.' If you feel you have reached this page in error, please contact your System Administrator.' Does this bite or what?” Well, yes – it bites. I'm not a weapon, nor can any part of me be used as a weapon. In fact, last I looked – I have no weapons on me. This isn't a game – it's a blog. It's to be taken very, very, very, very… very seriously. My head, on the other hand, is to be taken very lightly. Or 'hot pinkly' after tomorrow evening. Oy!