Latest comments
New Chair, New Books, New Birthday
o/~ happy birthday to you o/~
Optimus Keypad Looks The Suck
The more I see it, the more I am drawn to it. Like a fly is drawn to the pretty blue light in a butchers; I know it will hurt (my wallet) if I get it, but oh, it looks so good..
I think it is a shame it does not have a joystick or scroll wheel or something on it as well. There are lots of things you could control with three changable buttons and one analog control. You could run a home media pc from one or, a car entertainment pc, without having to resort to a full keyboard at all.
Just three buttons is less useful ... but I have still ordered one.
My Shoulder Hurts
If you have RSI, as I do, you have to:
1. Invest in a proper chair, table etc. Check out www.posturite.co.uk for special solutions to RSI, such as oversized mice. You need to be sat straight, back supported, monitor at the right level, mouse near at hand so you're not stretching etc etc.
2. Cut back on PC use. If it's your job, then don't use it in your free time, too. Watch DVDs or leave the house and drink beer.
If you push too far, you'll get a specialist telling you to quit using the PC altogether for weeks or months and then to only use it a tiny bit. Ignore it, and you'll get permanent injuries.
Return Of The Quake 2
I'm just better at jumping away than you are at aiming :p
My Shoulder Hurts
Most of my sitting down and typing is done at the office, and we're all provided with rather comfy ergonomic chairs, and everyone has to do this ergonomic assessment thing.
Except me!
Back in the old office, I blagged this rather nice leather chair, which probably breaks all the rules of sitting properly, but I got to take it to the new office. Then they threatened to take it away, but didn't. So I've still got it.
The moral here is: Steal stuff.
Return Of The Quake 2
I kept on missing!
An Open Letter To Whoever Buys From Spam
Nice letter. It's certainly true that if there weren't stupid people out there, there would be no spammers either. I've always wondered who would buy from a spammer... the guy who is making my email life a misery is not going to get any business from me (which is why Serif will not get my business again until they stop spamming me).
Spammers Got In, And Made It Hurt
Michael: I agree - see my [[http://www.radiac.net/diary/id/1082|open letter to whoever buys from spam]]! My biggest e-mail spam problem is that some of my domains are catch-all, and currently two are being dictionary attacked. No real solution other than to white-list the addresses I use, and consign everything else to the bin - moving domains would avoid spam to the addresses that have been harvested from the web, but there's no guarantee that the new domain won't also start to get e-mails to graham@, garner@, stevens@ etc.
Andrew: I don't mind GreaseMonkey doing it! Problem is, as long as it can, so can the spammers.
DavidH: But then I wouldn't be able to comment on my own diary :(
The most disturbing thing about spamming is that it must work. I mean, they wouldn't do it if there weren't stupid people who fall for the messages and respond accordingly. I am back up to 50 spams or so per day (nothing like my 100+ per day previously)... last time I scrapped arenaman.com and moved to michaelstubbs.net. Now I'm thinking of scrapping that and going to my .co.uk domain but not publishing my email address anywhere online. Pain in the arse!!
Once again GreaseMonkey defeats you. Never mind, eh!? Have emailed you accordingly.
How about using a set of dodgy 1980s pop star pictures taken from old issues of Smash Hits, and the response phrase being the title of first single - creeky might like that
Return Of The Quake 2
There's a railgun?
Spammers Got In, And Made It Hurt
Yes it is, but for them to parse it, they have to come to the website first and process it. I am curious about how the spammers work, so each step I implement is there to see what they'll do.
So far I have learnt that they execute javascript, and that they come round and test spam filters manually. I'll add the last few things gradually to satisfy my curiosity - and to see how long it takes them to evade each step.
Eventually I'm sure I'll end up with an image-based captcha, but I want to see what they do up to that!
If you make me enter the animal of the day from a text string... isn't that really, really easy to parse and defeat?
The new anti-spam measure is now in place, let's see if it helps. It probably won't, but I'm curious about how the spammers operate, so I'm just taking it one step at a time :p
Return Of The Quake 2
You're not as bad as you think you are! You're a lot better with the railgun than I am :)
Pffft, you think you're bad...
Help Me Buy Some Books
Thanks, will take a look :)
I've personally found the book linked below very useful generally. It is more generically about writing secure code and doesn't focus on particular tech, but I found this plus Google for the tech-specific bits works well.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596002424/202-6289130-5618212