Archive for February, 2007
Trackback Spam
Feb 13th
There is a new trend out there, one that hasn’t received much coverage, but it’s a big deal, and it’s getting bigger. As user generated content becomes more and more prevalent, we have a new type of spam out there: trackback spam. On my blog, beneath all of the entries (above the comments), there is a section that shows you the user agents that loaded that page as well as the refering pages. I recently discovered something: people gaming the system. Read on…
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Acronym Soup: A Short Story
Feb 9th
I booted up my QNX OS and tried VNC to my AIX box. Just then, I noticed a BSOD on my NT PC, which explained why I couldn’t RDP to it, but my data was probably safe thanks to VSC. “ic” someone wrote me on IM, and I quickly typed “BRB.” I jumped into my BMW to get to an ATM, and I drove through KFC. When I got back, I booted up my BSD machine and logged into KDE to check my files stored in UFS. It looked great even though I wasn’t using AIGLX, my ATI card showed my GTK and Qt apps looking A-OK.
I sat down and decided to write a program – but should I use ASP with VB or PHP? How about JSP? It didn’t really matter, because I was going to export into XML so I could use a DTS and SQL to import into my db. Since I was running BeOS, I decided that it would best to write my code in C with XHTML, so I just had to choose an IDE that worked with the API I had chosen. But my friend J.R. the MCSE told me he wanted it on his HP PDA and T.J., who is an RHCE and a CCNA, wanted it on his PSP. I decided to GPL whatever I wrote because the FSF would like that.
So I fired up my PC and booted Win Me. I had some old VB EXE files I wanted to review. Just then, some SOB asked why I was running Me and I asked him to keep it on the DL. He said “F U.” I kept track of my DLLs in an XLS file, and I had printed a PDF of the TOC. Outside the cubes, I could hear two VPs debating BFS vs. ZFS. One said he wanted ZFS to replace HFS. The other said he just wanted a fast CPU, a DVD RW, and a quality GPU. Since he bought his stuff OEM, he wanted to upgrade his PCI card to an AGP or PCI-X, but not until he bought himself a PCMCIA NIC. They talked it out, until it was ZFS, FTW.
“What’s your favorite app to open an RTF file?” someone asked me, and I said that I saved my work as TXT. But his docs were on a CD that discussed the benfits of SATA over IDE. So we plugged in an ATAPI (AKA EIDE) drive and since Me is UPNP, it opened. My screen was SVGA, but the system didn’t have USB. I got lots of IRQ errors.
We dialed into a BBS and cleared our ARP cache so ensure clean TCP/IP transfer. Someone wanted an a MP3 file, so I jumped on IRC and gave him a URL to DRM’ed AAC and WMAs. He got an HTTP 404, so we decided to FTP it or grab it off NNTP. The login ran through a CGI file, which failed, so I checked the FAQ. It required XP, but when I logged in and loaded AIM and MSN and my favorite XMPP program, I had a problem with my DNS, so I was SOL. I moved to OS X and dropped from the GUI to the TTY to try an SSH connection, but finally I used a PPTP VPN over my LAN via my DSL which uses the PSTN. I’m careful because, AFAIK, my ISP records my IP and blocks UDP, but then… IANAL.
Just then I was craving some TCBY. IMHO, TBCY is great, though YMMV. I emailed my buddy over SMTP from a machine running XFLD with XFCE, and he sent me a reply encoded with GPG. FYI, He was playing a MMORPG. FWIW, another friend, a real PITA, was writing a WYSIWYG HTML form.
It was just about closing time in UTC (AKA GMT), and IDK what came over me – I starting ROTFLMAO.
LOL.
Finally, Something Good!
Feb 9th
I had a bunch of things I wanted to write about – Lists of Bush’s impeachable offenses, the ridiculous controversy over Price’s “phallic” halftime show, a billboard that reads the “Hoohaa” Monologues, because, apparently, the word “vagina” is now offensive. But instead of yet another rant, I want to share some good news.
Earlier this week in New York City, a somber Trey Anastasio gave an in-depth interview that discussed his music, his plans, his songwriting, his drug use, and even Phish. It’s great to hear Trey coming back around and feeling good about music. Trey’s new stuff is still great music, but I think we all wonder if he has another “Guyute” in him. We all wonder if, should Phish ever reunite, whether he’s more likely to come up with another “You Enjoy Myself” or another “Jennifer Dances.” Songs like “Pebbles and Marbles” and “Scents and Subtle Sounds” demonstrate that he and Tom Marshall can still write fantastic, epic music. Songs like Mexican Cousin showed that Trey was interested in writing short numbers with a platform to launch a melodic jam session. But songs like “Undermind,” while not bad, per say, were not the same quality, didn’t have the same quirkiness, didn’t capture the feeling the way some of the older songs, like The Mango Song, or The Squirming Coil, or Silent in the Morning did.
Either way, it’s great to see there are still phans out there who are still so connected. This is all good news. In fact, the only bad news is that the comments portion of the page on rollingstone.com has been defaced by a bunch of morons.
Superbowl XLI Ad Review
Feb 5th
I have reviewed Superbowl ads before, and I decided to reprise that practice this year.
The Good
1. The ad that made me laugh first was a Taco Bell ad with two tigers. The tigers are chatting while spying on campers, and one gets focused on saying “carne asada” with a rolling r. It was humorous, and got me to chuckle.
2. There was a Coke ad that was clearly based on the Grand Theft Auto video game series. In it, after a crime spree, a character grabs a cold Coke from a cooler and starts doing nice things. More important than the content of the ad was that it copped the song “You Give a Little Love” from the Bugsy Malone soundtrack, one of my favorites as a kid! Great song, so the ad passes go, collects $200, and secures its spot in my tops list.
3. Third ad that made the cut was another Coke one. There was a white mutt who sees a parade and a dalmation, and uses an ill-timed mud puddle splash to costume himself and secure himself a spot in the parade. Touching.
4. There were a few ads that touched on Black History month and the factn that two Black coaches were in the superbowl. I tend to feel that the significance of this event, while great, ought to be overshadowed by their achievements themselves, rather than the fact that they are black. Neither coach wants to be defined by his color. But then, this is a significant event in the history of black coaches in football, and I’m glad that it was mentioned by several ads. So the jury is out, but the verdict is clear: we won’t have to deal with the issue again.
5. Honorable mention goes to the Dave Letterman/Oprah spot.
The Bad
1. Godaddy.com. Nice ad: there were boobs, and chicks, the dudes from Diggnation, the guys from American Chopper, Trishelle Canatella… but I would rather know that my domain is safe with a place that is stable and professional.
2. Sierra Mist. Seriously, I like these people, but the ads were just stupid. No laugh.
3. Crabs and Bud Light. Ih. Did nothing for me.
The Ugly
1. The Careerbuilder series. It was effective, because I remembered it and liked that it was a series of ads continuing a theme. It did not, however, make me very interested in checking out careerbuilder.
2. Federline/Taco Bell. Victim of too much hype. The payoff was small because of the backstory.
New Gmail Feature: Open in Google Docs!
Feb 4th
Today, when I logged into Gmail, I found a surprise – Gmail now lets me open some office documents directly in Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
Here is the screenshot:
Two Incredible Videos
Feb 3rd
First, the most incredible winter driving video I’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever driven in ice, you know that sometimes, when the road is just wrong, you are literally helpless to do much more than brace yourself for a semi-controlled spin. This road must’ve been completely iced over. Whatever this case, you will probably cringe like I did just watching one person after another get into this mess.
Secondly, a promo for Windows 386. The first 7 minutes are completely boring, but skip to about 7:10 in and the chaos begins. You will never believe that someone actually thought this would sell Windows. The only thing is does is convince me that promo directors in the mid-80’s must’ve done A LOT of cocaine.
So Much To Say
Feb 26th
Posted by Adam S in Random
Comments
On a normal day, I might point you towards links like this one, which demonstrates that The White House has removed quotes by Dick Cheney from their website. Or maybe this one, which claims that not a SINGLE member of George Bush or Dick Cheney’s family has served in this “honorable” war and set foot in Iraq as a soldier. I would explain that these are families of cowards, who continue to make this country worse each day they live, continue to decay our country and its framework, continue to increase the hatred for our once noble country. But instead, today is about good news.
This weekend, I won the Corporate Office Employee of the Year award, which was a tremendously validating experience. Combine that with the fact that my wife is newly pregnant and this was the first event that people have known about it, so they showered her with affection. And I’m so-close-I-can-taste-it to feature complete with OSNews version 4. So many cool features it makes me excited just thinking about it. I’ll detail several of them in a subsequent post.
Anyway, today is a GOOD day, and I will leave it at that.