Regular readers may have noticed a plethora of trackback spam over the past few days. The flow should be stemmed and all back to normal. There is no need to have trackbacks per se but I like it. The problem lies in the trackback module's implementation of trackbacks as comments. They are automatically put in as published comments regardless of other settings (including the excellent spam system). By changing line 26 from:

$cid, $node->nid, 0, 0, $subject, $trackback->excerpt, variable_get('filter_default_format', 1), getenv("REMOTE_ADDR"), time(), 0, 0, '', $thread, $trackback_author, $trackback->url);

to:

$cid, $node->nid, 0, 0, $subject, $trackback->excerpt, variable_get('filter_default_format', 1), getenv("REMOTE_ADDR"), time(), 1, 0, '', $thread, $trackback_author, $trackback->url);

(It is the change of the 0 following time() to a 1 that does the trick. All trackbacks will now be put in moderation and only those you choose to publish will appear.)

Wired Magazine has an article in the March issue on Adam Curry, the brains behind iPodder. It is a pretty good article that gives a good overview of the genre. Read more about Wired on podcasting

WNYC's On The Media covers blog swarms. They start by talking to Wall Street Journal editorial board member Brett Stevens who was in the audience for the statements made by Eason Jordan. Asked about leaving the story to blog space Stevens made all kinds of excuses and failed to even discuss the fact that by the very nature of being off the record it is a matter of professional credibility not to jump into the fray.

A perfect opportunity to focus the debate on the right way to share information and the personal responsibility of those involved to be honorable. Instead it was used as a puff piece for blogging. Even in the discussion with Rony Abovitz, the blogger who originally posted the blog comment from the off-the-record-session, he was never asked about writing about something that was clearly off the record. He also furthers the myth that Jordan could have had the tape released by placing a call to the World Economic Forum.

I returned yesterday from my first aviation field exercise. We were in the woods from Tuesday morning until Friday. This was the last training exercise of my flight school career. I will turn in my gear next week and graduate.

The aviation community is replete with stories about how cushy field exercises can be, especially compared to those experienced by soliders in the infantry and other branches. I had heard tales of Chinook pilots wheeling refrigerators out of the back of their helicopters to plug into the ever present generator. Coolers of steak and soda, tables, chairs, and barbeque grills were all common items seen when aviators were in the field. After all, pilots are limited by what we can carry in our helicopters, not by what we can carry on our backs.

The stories appear to be true. The intent of the field exercise was for us to plan missions in a field environment and then fly them in the AVCATT simulator. This, however, did not take up most or even the majority of the time for most of the students. Those without leadership roles, in particular, had a lot of free time. We all spent a lot of time in our 30 person tent sitting on our cots or in chairs, playing cards, listening to music, eating junk food, telling stories, and generally acting like high school kids at a sleep over party. We even ordered pizza to be delivered to the tents one night and then burned to boxes to keep our instructor from learning our dirty little secret when he came to check on us in the morning.

It was not all fun and games, however. Despite my best efforts I wound up with a leadership role. I was the flight lead for the third mission. The Air Mission Commander chose me because I am a flight school XXI student and had more experience in the aircraft than a lot of ther other students. Though I did not want the job it appears that the army has some rules about Warrant Officers doing what they are told to do by more senior officers. Go figure. Read more about Aviation Field Exercise