I just got this message when I tried to comment on my own post about ScreenCam:

In an effort to curb malicious comment posting by abusive users, I’ve enabled a feature that requires a weblog commenter to wait a short amount of time before being able to post again. Please try to post your comment again in a short while. Thanks for your patience.

But nobody has commented in the last 40 minutes! What is it talking about? The blog is obviously malfunctioning. Webmaster error, says I! HEADS MUST ROLL!!!

:)

UPDATE: I have now posted my comment in the post itself.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I’m aware that this flood-control issue is an ongoing problem, and not just for me. The feature is part of the new version of MovableType, which I recently installed, but it seems to be going haywire. Anyway, I’m working on it.

Butter’s endorsement of Joe Lieberman — and the accompanying, very funny photo of Howard Dean strangling a cat — have gotten some attention in the blogosphere (though not too much, which is good; it’ll keep Butter’s ego in check :), thanks in part to my link-whorishly posting it on the Command Post’s Op-Ed page.

In addition to inspiring several CP comments, Butter’s announcement has gotten linked by BoiFromTroy and on 419eater.com, and has even showed up on an aggregated news service called News Is Free (scroll down till you see the picture of Butter).

And there are probably some other links that I haven’t found, judging from the fact that the Butter-Lieberman post has been the “entry page” 141 times, and that yesterday’s hit spike exceeded Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary traffic level (though neither came close to my somewhat mysterious Iowa Caucus spike earlier in the month; I’m not sure who was linking to me then, but I sure got a lot of hits!)

Anyway, the point is, Butter is a mini-celebrity now. :)

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you… the Brendan Loy ScreenCam.

I suppose I should say “the return of the Brendan Loy ScreenCam,” since I did have something like this during my freshman year at USC, when I also had a webcam in my dorm room. :)

Anyway, as its name implies, the ScreenCam allows you to see what’s on my screen right now, updated every 30 seconds — provided my computer is turned on, “awake,” and connected to the Internet, and also provided I want you see what’s on my screen right now. :) I can turn it off any time I like, of course…

You can also see what, if anything, I’m listening to on iTunes, using a cool little text uploader thingy that I downloaded.

Dunno whether or not I’ll keep using the ScreenCam (and the, uh, iTunesCam), but I figure it’s worth a test run, at least. The main appeal — aside from the obvious, general voyeurism — would be that my wallpaper image changes automatically every 5 minutes, and this way, everybody can watch the slideshow!

As for security, the image of the screen is so small that it’d be pretty hard to read anything (like e-mails, etc.). To enhance this effect, I may try making the image a little more fuzzy (i.e., a lower-quality JPEG) as well. And on top of that, like I said, I can shut the screen-capture thingy down any time I want to. So if you were hoping to sneak a peek at the Paris Hilton video, fugghedaboutit, you won’t be seeing it on my screen. :)

UPDATE: I think there might have been some porn on here for like 30 seconds. Apologies to anyone who stumbled across it. Gotta be more careful about those pop-up ads if I want to keep this a family website! :)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Since I couldn’t comment, I’ll have to respond to Dane’s comment in the post itself. Here’s what I was going to say

Well, yes, I do occasionally do stuff on my computer. :) But when I’m at work, 8 to 5 Monday to Friday, I typically leave my computer on (and connected to the Internet via the office wireless network), and just let the desktop slideshow run. It’s like having a photo taped to the wall of your cubicle, except the photo keeps changing! So I figure the ScreenCam has the potential to be relatively interesting during working hours… which is when people do most of their Web surfing anyway.

“Joe Lieberman will be traveling to Arizona in the afternoon of February 2nd,” according to this notice on the Joe2004 website. No details yet, but here’s hoping for a lunch-time stop in downtown Phoenix! :)

Having become persona non grata at Lieberman headquarters thanks to my snarky comments about my visit there yesterday (Janice, I really do like Joe & all you volunteers, honest! I was just being a wise-ass!), I think I’ll shy away from politics in today’s lunch-break update, and instead show off this really cool new CGI script that I just installed:

What’s so cool about it? Reload this page (or click on the permalink and then reload that page) and you’ll see! It’s a “random image generator,” choosing one of 124 different images (i.e., all the files in a certain specified directory on my site) every time you load it!

In addition to being just generally cool, this is a key part of my long-term plan for my homepage, so I’m very excited that I got it to work so easily.

Reload away!

(Oh, and yes, I am taking a rather late lunch — we were having technical difficulties in the office at noontime. More Internet problems. Again, I blame the MyDoom virus and/or John Ashcroft… or possibly some combination thereof.)

UPDATE: Oh, and I’m also working on building a Blogroll:

(Agence Feline-Presse, Jan. 29, 2004) — Noted cat-blogger and movie star Butter Zak rocked the feline political establishment by endorsing Joe Lieberman for president Thursday.

The endorsement by the star of the hit movie Butter Baggins and the Fish of Doom came as a surprise, in light of Lieberman’s much-publicized “Dogs for Joe” campaign, which has turned off many cats.

“Butter felt that the presence of three cats on Lieberman’s animal-endorsement page indicates that he is a friend of cats as well as dogs — he just got bad advice on which species to emphasize,” said Brendan Loy, Butter’s daddy.

“Meow,” concurred Butter.

The Lieberman campaign expressed hope that Butter’s announcement would contribute to the Connecticut senator’s surging “Joe-mentum.” One staffer commented, “This is the best news we’ve had since we found out that finishing almost 8,000 votes behind can actually qualify as a momentum-building ‘tie.’”

Loy denied allegations that Butter’s endorsement of his home state’s native son was related in any way to the presence of cat treats near a Lieberman campaign sign.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Loy stated.

Loy also denied that he attempted to subliminally influence Butter’s decision by whispering other Democratic candidates’ names in her ear while feeding her foul-tasting medicine. (Butter has been suffering from a stomach infection.)

“I did no such thing,” Loy said. “Butter made this decision entirely on her own.”

“If the medicine had any influence at all,” he added, “it was in helping to convince Butter of the superiority of Joe Lieberman’s health-care plan, which would hold HMOs accountable, expand quality health care for middle-class families, and also, make medicines taste less yucky.”

Butter’s announcement came just days after the feline community was rocked by the release of a photo showing rival candidate Howard Dean attacking a defenseless kitten.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” –Dean
“MEEEEEEEEOOOOOORRRRRWWWW!!!!!!!!” –cat

Although apparently doctored, the photo — which no rival campaign has claimed authorship of — has been extremely effective, causing Dean’s poll numbers among cats to drop to 0.001%.

I stopped by Joe Lieberman’s Arizona headquarters today after work to pick up some campaign paraphernalia.

The place felt rather empty — a very small handful of volunteers in a large room, and not much activity going on — and when I walked in, they seemed literally stunned to see a stranger come in the door. Or perhaps the better word is simply “confused.” It kind of seemed like they thought I might be lost. :) Alas, I don’t think too many members of the public have been darkening the door of the Lieberman headquarters…

Not suprisingly, they had a giant blown-up copy of the Arizona Republic endorsement on their wall. I overheard some chatter between volunteers about a press conference earlier in the day; I believe they said two local TV stations showed up.

Anyway, the volunteer who helped me was delighted — or, again, momentarily confused, but then delighted — when I asked if she had any buttons, stickers, etc. (There were bumper stickers and cardboard signs out on display — and I took several of those, too — but I wanted something to wear as well.) She gave me a bunch of stuff, and encouraged me to take whatever else I wanted; the subtext seemed to be, “No one else is taking it,” but perhaps I’m reading too much into it. :)

I also took a bunch of position papers, explaining aloud that “I’m already a supporter, but I have to try to convince my girlfriend.” Becky, after all, is the only Arizona voter in our house, so she’s my only hope to boost Senator Joe’s numbers on Feb. 3. She swears she won’t vote for Lieberman, but hey, you can’t fault me for trying. :)

The Lieberman lady took a picture of me inside the HQ: