Geek Miscellany

I'm a hacker...not a security hacker, not a script kiddy, but an old school, widget-writing code developer. I write code, I don't theorize about it.

But I've always felt guilty. My brief stint in University (I dropped out of Honours Comp. Sci after about six months) made me feel like real computing science was all about mathematics and set theory. Then I found this article by Paul Graham, which really hit a chord with me.

Basically, Paul's suggestion is that Computing Science is, for many people, not a science. Instead, it is more akin to an art form. Coders like myself don't write out some mathematical theory for a program, then transcribe it. Instead, we work with materials and theories to create. Some of what we do is sketching, some of it transcends mere sketching and becomes "beautiful". But it is a far cry from a formal science for many (most?) programmers.

Just like a good artist or architect, good hackers don't program randomly: we start with a theme or a context (the requirements for an application, a problem that needs to be solved), and create something "organically" that fulfills or perhaps transcends our original intent.

I've spent a good chunk of my life feeling guilty, or sometimes angry, regarding the way I code versus the way I had been taught I was *supposed* to code. Paul's article helped me see this in a different light. In fact, its encouraged me to dig a bit more into theory: not because I feel I have to, but because it might help me be a better coder.

Everyone knows that Microsoft products are the subject of a great deal of hacker attention. Sure, Microsoft hasn’t in the past been very good about securing their products, but with all the script kiddies and coders making them their #1 target, it isn’t too surprising that problems keep cropping up. (more…)

You may recall that I was lamenting earlier this week that several of my news feeds had choked and died. I don’t give up easily… (more…)

Half of the "stuff" on my site seemed to break all in one weekend. And it wasn't even my fault!

I'm referring to the newsfeeds I have here. Two of them died- my Google news (top of the page) and Slashdot (formerly lower left of the main page).

Google news normally sits at the top of the main page. The headlines are "scraped" from their site ever couple of hours (supposedly). Well, the RSS service I was using stopped being updated late last week. I think I've may have figured out why: based on some testing I did with some scripts I found for doing this, it looks like Google is blocking attempts to read the site with tools that don't identify themselves as certain "standard" browser types. I hacked a workaround using php-CURL (which lets me change the client agent (browser) identification header sent when my server connects to Google. Unfortunately, its not quite working properly yet. Hopefully later this week- for now, those links at the top of the page are dead.

Slashdot...it seems my server has been "banned" (check this page out, and look for "My RSS reader tells me I was banned!" for details)for accessing their site "too often" or something. I have two web pages that used to do hourly refreshes. Barring something freaky, this shouldn't generate more than two queries an hour...but maybe Slashdot has gotten more picky lately. Also, maybe someone has spoofed my server's IP- I sent a message to Slashdot to see if they can give me some clues why my server has been banned. For now, I've turned my Slashdot feeds off.

Oh, and I have all the parts for rebuilding my server here (see my previous article), but between having to work this weekend, sick cats, and the problems mentioned here I didn't end up with any time to spare).

Hello, my name is Kelly, and I'm addicted to technology.

It all started innocently enough. Like a lot of youngsters, I had to try it out. Just once...it wasn't like it was going to be a regular thing. That first Apple II was pure bliss...but it was the beginning of a never-ending spiral into some microchip-besotted hell.

What the heck am I rambling about? Well...

Oh my goodness. You have to hand it to some politicians. Here we are, in the second week of the Iraq war, which will probably result in thousands of dead and tens of thousands injured.

And what is the big, important policy statement being pushed for by Republican Congressman Darrell Issa? Is it a drive for a swift end to the war? Focus on other terrorist-harbouring nations? Nope...its the selection of a digital phone standard to be used when rebuilding Iraq.