• Sep 23, 2003

    A List Apart redesign coming soon

    Zeldman has given us a sneak peek into the new A List Apart. I'm not too sure I like the pinkish tones. Probably has to do with the online dating sites that now support ALA(A List Apart).

    Supported by XDate Speed Dating, 30Dates Speed Dating, and for free online dating, xdate.com.

    There's no doubt it'll look awesome as it was before.

  • Sep 22, 2003

    Humour for academia - vaguely intellectual humour

    Thanks to Matt Thornton for pointing out this technical paper on Haggis growth and the use of Remote Sensing and GIS (PDF). No it's not your run-of-the-mill technical paper. If you're in need of a good laugh as I was, read that!

    After reading a whole bunch of (non-humourous) technical papers that one really strikes me as being particularly funny.

    On an unrelated note, wish me luck for tommorrow. I really really need it.

  • Sep 20, 2003

    StumbleUpon toolbar

    I'd recently installed the StumbleUpon extension for Mozilla when I came across it being listed as mozdev's Project of the Week for the week of September 8, 2003. StumbleUpon is not just a Mozilla thing - its homepage has toolbars for IE and Netscape 7 too.

    What it does is to allow you to 'stumble upon' sites that are recommended by peers with interests similar to your own. You can recommend (as well as disapprove of) sites yourself too. Pretty neat idea if it doesn't get abused by webmasters.

    And before you ask, yes, I was bored - I was "running out" of sites to visit.

    I did manage to uncover some interesting sites in my stumbles. Like Acronym Server (decodes acronyms - great stuff!), Make A Shorter Link, a feisty new Linux distro, and even this essay on "How to Write Unmaintainable Code"!

  • Sep 14, 2003

    Hacker ethics - hacking warning received

    Update: I can't confirm if it was a hoax or not, because my client hasn't reported any problems. They were talking with their webhost about it, in any case. I did try to access their site during the indicated takedown period, and it was inaccessible, but it could very well be due to the webhost taking preventive measures by taking down his server. Will update when I find out. It is also interesting to note that Simon Willison has received the same email (see his comments in that blog entry).

    One of my clients told me today that they received this message via the contact form at their website:

    Dear Administrator

    We are sorry to inform you that your site has been targeted for hacking
    practice. The monthly hacking practice is organized since 1991. The targets
    are randomly chosen.

    We are sorry if your server is down, damged or formated. The first round
    of attack starts on 15th Sept 23:56, there will be at most 5 rounds, each
    last for 5-10 hours. Please backup your data.

    The hackers assigned to your server are level 2 hackers. (ranking from
    level 1 to 7 by increasing ability)

    note: this message is sent from an randomly picked unknown singapore host.
    please go ahead tracing. reply will not be receivable.

    Regards,
    CHU - Chinese Hackers' Union 2003
    http://www.cnhacker.net/homepage.htm

    This is the first time I've encountered something like this and I'm pleasantly surprised by the forewarning given. I've backed everything up but I also wonder if there's anything their web hosting provider can or should do. Does anyone have any experience with hacking attempts and can provide any advice?

    Anyhow, this is just a theory, but I can pretty much guess that some of these hackers are members of some educational institutions (specifically universities) in Singapore, considering the nature of the client's website. Interesting. It's not like I'm going to do anything to them though, I think partly because they were ever so nice to give a warning and partly because there's really nothing we can do if the hackers are skilled enough.

    Anyway, if you check out their (CHU's) website, the message there translates roughly to this:

    The onion reorganization is now completed, Everyone please pass the message that this China Hacker Union will soon be reopened.

  • Sep 13, 2003

    Naruto cosplay picture

    Fans of the Naruto anime and/or manga would love to see this cosplay photo. Got this off this thread at AnimeSuki.com forums. There are many many more photos in that thread!

    Quoting Dopeskills:

    Since when did Sakura learn Fatass no Jutso (sic)?!?

    Cosplay means "Costume Play" for those of you who don't know, like how I didn't and had to Google for it - learning something new everyday.

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