Month: August 2005

MySQL Help

Reading time: < 1 min

OK, techie request time people. Those of a non-technical, anti-acronym mindset should look away now.

I think I’m getting hacked. Well not here, Scottish Blogs.

The Scottish Blogs site uses a MySQL database to store the member details. The submission form calls a separate PHP page which does a little checking (to make sure duplicate URLs and email addresses aren’t added) then throws the info into the database. The database connection details are held in a separate PHP file which is included as and where needed.

I’m pretty sure that someone has managed to figure out how to write to the database directly. I’ve taken the submission form offline for the past few hours but I’m still getting new “spam” sites added, I’m currently getting around 15 – 20 “spam” submissions a day, mainly from chinese sites/hackers (not really spam as such just illegible nonsense).

So, given those rather skimpy details, anyone got any suggestions on how this is happening and how I can stop them from doing it?

Counting

Reading time: < 1 min

Thundering at the window. Rain slams into glass. A million impacts. A staccato beat of tiny sharp flat…

Ohhh bugger that, too tired to be creative…

It’s chucking it down, blowing a gale and keeping me awake. Rather than lie in bed and wonder if that new dripping noise is a drip or, um, something non-drip related… ohh it’s just stopped. Phew.

Dammit, a new one has just started.

My home is my castle and my mind keeps me awake lest I miss any damage reports from this whooshing groaning screaming building.

Now, I think I got a couple of hours sleep as the last time I saw on the clock, before I got back up, was 11.54pm. It’s now 3am.

At a push I can function(ish) on around 6 hours sleep. But, of course, tomorrow morning is THE ONE AND ONLY MORNING THIS WEEK when my alarm is set early. It goes off in 3 hours and 30 minutes.

But I’m sitting here. I’m not in bed. I’m not sleeping. With each passing sentence my sleep quota for the day decreases.

I can’t believe I’m blogging this.

Enough. To bed, perchance to dream.

Hang on! I know why I’m blogging this… because it’s likely to be all you get from me today. If you want more please scroll down, there’s plenty more nonsense if you seek it.

Guilty Pleasures

Reading time: 2 mins

Sometimes I loathe our TV, despite paying for the “all the channels, yes even the poker ones” some nights there is just NOTHING ON! Quite frankly it’s ridiculous and it’s all that Murdoch’s fault, sometimes I wish I wasn’t addicted to Sky+…

Mind you at other times it offers day long TV marathons and next thing you know you have to lever yourself up from the sofa (always a slightly painful experience when bare skin has been in close proximity to a leather couch for nine hours) and you are wondering why it’s gone dark. Of course, they never EVER broadcast day long marathons of good TV shows, no no, if you are going to spend all day in front of the TV it’ll be brain-numbingly awful stuff that you’ll be watching.

Ohh yes, it will.

Don’t deny it.

So, what programmes yield such power over me? Well in an effort to clear my soul of some of it’s burden (I’d like it to be nice and trim for when I get sent to hell) here is a short sampling of my guilty TV pleasures:

  • Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – An American house DIY/design show where they, sometimes, knock the house down and build a new one. It’s all done for “needy” families and is a mixture of OTT Americanisms and heart-wrenching stories. If you have a soul you’ll have tears in your eyes at the end of every show, if you don’t it’s worth it just to see what they put in the houses.
  • The Best – the only made a couple of series of this but we still enjoy watching it. Three chefs, well two chefs and a cute food scientist, cook a meal based on a given theme which are then judged by three members of the public in secret. A running score is kept through the series and the banter between the chefs is half the fun.
  • U.F.C. – late night on Bravo, amongst the titillation and … er… whatever else they do, is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In the same vein as boxing I’ve always believed that if that’s what these guys want to do, and it’s as safe as it can be then why not? Often bloody, always exciting, but I wonder if it’s just the shock factor that drags me back?
  • Friends – yes. That’s right. We still watch repeats (re-runs for my American reader) of Friends. They are simple, easy to watch and light-heartedly funny.

They are the most common culprits the ones I’ll happily embrace along with my dressing gown, a jumbo bag of minstrels, a mixed selection of (generic supermarket brand) crisps, and copious cups of coffee (surely the reason advert breaks were invented). Couple them with a very laisse faire attitude to personal hygiene for the day, and I’m in TV heaven.

It’s so bad that I only allow myself one of these days every two or three years lest my brain rebel and force me to stab myself in each eye with a blunt spoon, for if there’s something guaranteed to make me want to stop watching TV it’s a sharp pain to the eyes inflicted by a rounded metal eating implement (but each to their own of course).

Now, it’s over to you dear reader, time to fess up! What’s your guilty TV secret? What’s your ideal “TV loafing day”? Share your techniques and let all of us slobs benefit.

Ohh and I’ll pre-empt the wisecracks about “nekkid ladeez” or any reference to Jude Law naked, daytime TV only guys and gals!

Careful

Reading time: < 1 min

Just got my first “phishing” email which alleges to have come from PayPal. It doesn’t.

The subject line reads: Your account will be suspended!

It reads:

Dear Paypal User,
In accordance with our major database relocation, we are currently having major adjustments and updates of user accounts to verify that the informations you have provided with us during the sign-up process are true and correct. However, we have noticed some discrepancies regarding your account at Paypal. Possible causes are inaccurate contact information and invalid logout process.

We require you to complete an account verification procedure as part of our security measure.

It then asks you to click a link which, I can assure you, has nothing to do with Paypal. I’ve let them know about it, but I’d advise you to be careful if you receive something similar.

Top tip: If you use Thunderbird as your email client, the REAL email address is displayed, in this case whilst it looks like it’s coming from service AT paypal DOT com, it’s really coming from service AT mythtv DOT lan. Alternatively, switch your email client to use a plain text view as most of these “phishing” emails come in HTML format. You’ll soon see the real details hidden away behind the “click this link now!” text.

Nonentity Bloggers

Reading time: < 1 min

Apparently this idea is all my fault.. or at least the fault of the fine readership of this very site (ok, I can’t really lay claim to this at all but that won’t stop me trying!!).

I like the idea though but have to admit that, and I’m not sure why it’s only struck me now, but as when Vaughan mentions “those self-important bloggers who like nothing more than discussing their own self-importance are utterly tiresome and painfully dull” I suddenly “got it” (it may be catching, beware).

Creating a “blogosphe…” (ick) to help them feel more accepted and less of an outcast is why the A-list exists – the stereotype of a pizza munching, Gatorade slurping geek is true!!

Except it isn’t really but hey, it’s a nice thought.

Anyway, I see that www.nonentitybloggers.co.uk isn’t taken… yet… and I guess a button would be nice too, right? Or is that kind of against the spirit of the thing? (I was going to call it a “movement” but don’t want to attach any labels).

Upgraded

Reading time: < 1 min

What I did (for Lyle and anyone else).

Usual caveats apply, if you’ve done a lot of hacking then YOU need to know what YOU’VE changed. This is all taken from the WordPress Upgrade documentation. Worked for me.

The Preparation
1. Backup your database and the files on your site.
2. Download the WordPress ZIP file for 1.5.2.
3. De-activate all plugins on your site (will make your site look funny until the files are upgraded). I’d suggest taking a note of them as well, just in case you need to upgrade them too (I didn’t have to).

Note: It is NOT necessary to run install.php or upgrade.php as no changes are made to the database. As with all WordPress upgrades, the contents of your /wp-content/ folder should remain intact and unchanged.

The Upgrade
1. Delete /wp-admin/ folder.
2. Delete /wp-includes/ folder
3. Delete all the wordpress files in the root directory where the root index.php file is found. DO NOT DELETE wp-config.php. Note: My WordPress install is in a separate folder, I deleted all the files in my “WordPress” folder, leaving the remaining folders intact.
4. Download and extract the new version.
5. Upload the appropriate folders – /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ – and the files they contain.
6. Upload all the files in the WordPress root directory to your WordPress folder.
7. Re-activate your plugins.

Done. Hopefully. Was a breeze this time round, the docs could still do with a little “dis-ambiguating” and I guess it’s about time I used my membership of the doc team to good effect!