Probably the most annoying thing about trackbacks is trackback spam. I recently enabled trackbacks for all sites on this blog to see how it would go. And whadyouknow, within a week I had like over 100 new trackbacks from all over the place -- And most of them spam. So for now I have disabled trackbacks again (okay, that isn't entirely true, people from Windows Live Spaces can still trackback my blog).

 

I wish there was a better way to protect against spam like that. Perhaps a first step would be that trackback URL has to be unique. I noticed several trackbacks had exactly the same URLs, which is pointless of course. Second there has to be some kind of way to identify real blogs. But for that we would need cooperation with a lot of different sites, such as Blogspot, Myspace, MSDN blogs etc etc.. Preferably some open standard everyone can use.

 

Oh, here's an idea, why not just let us Spacers add URLs we know are safe. So I can pick which major blog sites can trackback my blog posts. And here's another idea, Spaces should offer a predefined list of blog sites that are considered safe in general. That way every user can add all those predefined sites in one click of a button, and then filter out or add any sites they don't like.

 

It would only take a database table, a couple of regular expressions and some UI work. Wouldn't be too hard, would it?

 

 

If you regulary drink or eat products that contain the artificial sweetner aspartame, then do the right thing, and stop consuming those products and replace them with alternitives that do not contain aspartame. The chemical compound contains very nasty stuff, including a chemical called Methyl Ester, which when digested and broken down in the digestive system will transform into Methanol which is a poisenous form of alcohol.

 

Aspartame has been linked to a large range of symptoms, most of which are related to the functioning of the brain, often because aspartame affects the production and/or effectiveness of neurotransmitters. Ever since aspartame was introduced in the 80's for general consumption diseases related to the brain (such as brain tumors, eleptic seizures) and other conditions such as multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia, diabetes, etc. have rissen dramatically.

 

People who digest large amounts of aspartame often comlain about headaches, stomach pains, not being able to focus and/or concentrate, feeling like their head is filled with nothing/air. Aspartame can also cause rashes, nausea and vomitting when first digested. When digested over a longer period of time you will be effectively poisoning your body.

 

Not convinced? Watch this video on Google Video.

 

I know I will from now on look way more carefully at what I am eating and drinking, especially for artificial sweetners like aspartame. Nevermind all those diet products -- If you look at the general American population you will see even though aspartame was introduced over 20 years ago, obesity is at an all time high. Regular sugar is still healthier, but like anything, use with care, and don't eat too much of it.