I’ve been periodically trying to fix comments on this weblog with no luck. Since I started this weblog in 2003 with Movable Type 2.63, I have upgraded it every year or two and periodically added do-dads and code snippets. Sometimes it is easier to start fresh than to fix what’s there.

This morning I decided to completely recreate this blog and the comment system does seem to work. If you have posted a comment in the last couple of years I made you a trusted commenter. If you are a new friend (or one of my old friends who reads this and then never says anything), the next time you comment I will make you trusted. If you are a trusted commenter, then comments will be posted immediately. If the new MT is better at spam prevention, then maybe I’ll just let anyone comment, but I had over 7000 spam comments that I just deleted so it has been a bit of a problem.

Please post a comment to help me test. Feel free to give me any feedback on blog design. I plan to bring back in elements of the old design after ensuring that the functionality is working. Do folks like the new three-column layout or is it too cluttered? Should I post an image of me with my new purple hair?

The tag cloud is obviously broken. I’ll tackle that next. Please let me know if you see anything else funky.

[Update: moved to WordPress and the lovely thematic theme.]

Claiborne Pell died today at the age of 90. Serving in the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island for 36 years, his most famous contribution was the creation of Pell Grants. He was also the main sponsor of the bill that created the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Oft praised for his non-controversial style, he was known to have said “I always try to let the other guy have my way.”

As a Newport blueblood, he nonetheless had broad support of RI blue-collar workers. I also enjoyed reading another quote from him (via bluebirdsinging and CNN) today:

“The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.”