…to write a post this morning. But then I got distracted trying to solve that whole world hunger problem. I was right on the cusp of a solution when the president called to ask my advice on Iraq. I don't know why he even bothers calling anymore. He never takes my advice. Maybe he just misses me.
Anyway, by the time I got that Chatty Cathy off the phone I'd completely forgotten my hunger solution. So now the best I have is, "Why can't we just bring them a big sandwich and be done with it?" I think we might have tried that once. I'm pretty sure it didn't do much.
And now I've no time left for a post before work.
posted at 01/30/2007 08:47 am : Permalink
Categorized General : Tagged (no tags)
Last night I survived my very first hack attempt. Someone, apparently from Europe if their IP address is to be believed, attempted to use a security vulnerability to gain admin access to my blog. Why me? No idea. I don't have any enemies, except possibly Ann Coulter, so I don't think I was specifically targeted. I was a target of opportunity.
But I was not an unprepared target. I stay on top of WordPress updates, especially those that come along with security warnings. The hole the ne'er-do-well tried to weasel through is an SQL injection vulnerability found in the trackback script included with all versions of WP 2.0.5 and older. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability will provide the hacker with the password for the admin account. With that, he/she can do all sorts of nasty things.
I am not using WP 2.0.5 or lower. My system stayed secure. The only ill-effect was that I had several very odd comments in my spambox this morning. I was protected because I stay current. How protected are you? To satisfy my own curiosity, I eyeballed most of the WordPress-powered blogs on my blogroll, in my bookmarks and in my feed reader.
I checked thirty-three blogs. Twenty-five of them are vulnerable to this very same attack and one is vulnerable to a different attack, leaving only seven out of thirty-three that are protected against all known problems. This particular hacking attempt would have been very different if the target had been you. Or you, or you, or you. (Pretend those are links… I'm not so rude that I'd dog people in public like that.)
And once again, you don't have to jump up to WordPress 2.1 to stay secure. The 2.0.x line is in feature lock, but it's still being updated for bug and security fixes. There's nothing wrong with staying in the 2.0.x branch a while longer if that's where you're comfortable. Just make sure you're running the newest release in your branch.
posted at 01/28/2007 06:48 pm : Permalink
Categorized Geekery : Tagged hacker, security, WordPress
[Bunny's in the bathroom, singing Boston's "More Than a Feeling."]
Bunny: …I see my Mary Ann walking away…
Me: Hm? What?
Bunny: What, what?
Me: Did you just say "Mary Ann?"
Bunny: Uh… yeah.
Me: I'm pretty sure it's "Marion."
Bunny: No, it's not. It's "Mary Ann."
Me: You're so wrong. It's "Marion."
Bunny: Should we look it up?
Me: No.
Bunny: Because you know you're wrong.
Me: Not at all. I agree it sounds like it could be "Mary Ann," but it's not. A lot of those lyrics sources are going to be wrong. If you look at ten, five will say "Marion" and five will say "Mary Ann."
Bunny: Oh. Well then let's just look up the ones that agree with me.
posted at 01/27/2007 07:25 pm : Permalink
Categorized Snippets : Tagged Boston, Bunny, More Than a Feeling
Alright, peeps. I've set up that whole Oscars contest thing, so go sign up.
If you don't already have an account with ABC.com, you'll need to sign up for one. I imagine it's free and probably pretty painless, but I can't say for sure. I created my account years ago, before Oscar.com became part of the Go Network. So yeah… I can't tell you what to expect, but it's probably not a big deal.
You'll see a link for something like "Find or create group." My group is named "Feast of Crumbs." If you're having difficulty finding it, it may be useful for you to know the group ID.
No one else in the group will see your predictions until after the awards and you can change your choices as many times as you like, right up to the last minute. If you're going to participate, there's no reason to delay. Go sign up now!
posted at 01/26/2007 08:23 am : Permalink
Categorized Music, movies, books, TV : Tagged contest, Oscars
Lightning-
I pet the cat
in the dark
posted at 01/25/2007 12:57 am : Permalink
Categorized Haiku and poetry : Tagged Bubbles, cat, static
So. Oscar nominations were announced yesterday. Sister and I have a standing "ten dollars or lunch" wager on which of us can pick more winners. Oscar.com does this annual Pick The Winners contest, with real prizes, where you can match yourself up with friends online. I set up a group last year, but only one person participated.
Is anyone interested in this? Should I set up a group this year? If I threw down my gauntlet, would anyone pick it up?
posted at 01/24/2007 08:44 am : Permalink
Categorized Music, movies, books, TV : Tagged contest, Oscars, Sister
WordPress 2.1 was released yesterday. I won't be upgrading, at least not for a while. If you read my previous bitchfest, you may remember all my problems with the beta version. Every difficulty I was having has since been addressed and the final version is now very solid. But there's still one thing holding me back: plugin compatibility.
In my testing, I'm still having issues with some plugins. To be fair, a lot of those problems are not widespread and may in fact be limited to my very specific set of circumstances. There is one incompatibility, however, that is not limited to me and that's Ultimate Tag Warrior. The current version of UTW does not play well with WP2.1. There's a nasty little bug where a new comment can erase a post's tags.
2.1 does have some excellent new features and I'm disappointed I won't be jumping on that bandwagon just yet, especially after testing it for six months. There's one bright spot in all of this. I don't need to upgrade.
The WP dev team has announced that because of the bump in minimum required MySQL versions (2.1 now requires MySQL 4.0, remember), they won't be abandoning the 2.0.x line. They've committed to maintaining 2.0.x for an additional two to three years. Most webhosts will have some sort of policy requiring you to keep your blog software (and any other scripts you run) updated for security reasons. A vulnerability in your blog software can compromise the integrity of your server and may put other people at risk. Your webhost will be seriously pissed at you if someone exploits a hole in your blog and there are server problems because of it.
The nice thing about the current situation is that I don't have to jump on 2.1 to stay on top of security. In the future we'll see WP 2.0.8 and 2.0.9, etc. (Or maybe 2.0.7.1… I'm not sure how they're going to version that.) I'll upgrade to 2.1 eventually, as soon as my issues are sorted out, but there's no pressure.
You shouldn't feel pressured either. 2.1 is a big deal, and is definitely worth the upgrade, but there are some real gotchas involved. If you can, test 2.1 on a second blog. Like I talked about (at great length) in my previous post, downgrading is a massive chore, so it would be a real kick in the teeth to find problems when it's basically too late to do anything about it. At the very least, be sure to check the (sadly, incomplete) plugin compatibility list to see if your favorites are ready to go.
posted at 01/23/2007 08:42 am : Permalink
Categorized Geekery : Tagged upgrade, WordPress
…or does the icicle on the right look suspiciously phallic?
And is it still an "icicle" if it's a stalagmite instead of a stalactite?
posted at 01/20/2007 10:38 am : Permalink
Categorized Photo foolishness : Tagged ice, penis
Bunny is at war with the cats. The cats, especially Bubbles, have this thing going where they like to bat around their water dish. Whenever Bunny fills the dish, the cats will promptly spill at least half of it all over the kitchen floor. Bunny's had it. She went with the nuclear option.
Have you seen anything about that Celebrity Big Brother racism thing? It's a big hullabaloo in countries where people actually watch the show, like the UK. There are lots of news stories about the controversy, including this one, with it's dumbest headline ever: Are reality TV shows manufactured to grab attention? Well, fucking duh, of course they are.
The second dumbest headline ever is over at ABC News: Some Say It's OK for Girls to Go Wild. I say, yes, it's ok for girls to go wild. In fact, I would strongly encourage it.
In 2002, IDF Sergeant Kevin Cohen was killed in the line of duty while in Gaza. His mother had his sperm extracted and frozen. After several years, she's finally won the right to have a volunteer woman inseminated with her dead son's frozen sperm. How creepy is that?
In Philadelphia, a criminal defense lawyer was caught naked with a 14 year-old girl. He was caught in the courthouse, by a Sheriff's deputy. There do not exist strong enough words to describe how fucked that guy is.
posted at 01/19/2007 08:12 am : Permalink
Categorized General, News : Tagged artificial insemination, Bubbles, Bunny, cat, Celebrity Big Brother, disturbing, sex crime, stupidity
The Bunny is a superwoman. She's obviously much stronger than she looks. And she looks pretty strong, for a wee girl anyway. Bunny works nights, right? I sleep at night and she sleeps during the day, so only on weekends do we share the bed. And in at least one respect, that's a good thing.
See, we have very different ideas about blankets. I like a few blankets. She likes having every blanket in the entire fucking world. If there's a blanket out there somewhere, she wants it hunted down and brought home. So I have something like four blankets, she has something like ten. And some of those fuckers are heavy. I feel smothered if I don't peel off a few layers when I get into bed. Bunny's preferred pile of blankets is so heavy, I have difficulty moving my feet under them. They're downright oppressive. Children and old people would probably die under the weight of Bunny's endless pile of covers.
I'm convinced Bunny possesses hidden reserves of strength. She might be a superhero.
posted at 01/18/2007 12:16 am : Permalink
Categorized General : Tagged blankets, Bunny