I am a hacker and you are afraid and that makes you more dangerous than I ever could be.
You appear to be running a disk intensive task...
Topic: Miscellaneous
10:26 am EDT, May 12, 2008
Me: Why is Visual Studio taking 45 seconds to load? Computer: You appear to be running a disk intensive task... so I think I will run an anti-virus scan, and the file indexer for Desktop search!
I swear my laptop "knows" when I'm trying to do something important and runs schedule tasks at exactly those moments.
I was working on a project and noticed some odd DNS behavior. Behold:
C:\Documents and Settings\hoffmabi>nslookup google.com
Server: 24-197-160-17.static.gwnt.ga.charter.com
Address: 24.197.160.17
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Addresses: 64.233.187.99, 64.233.167.99, 72.14.207.99
C:\Documents and Settings\hoffmabi>nslookup www.memestreams.net
Server: 24-197-160-17.static.gwnt.ga.charter.com
Address: 24.197.160.17
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: memestreams.net
Address: 72.9.237.202
Aliases: www.memestreams.net
C:\Documents and Settings\hoffmabi>nslookup shouldnotresolvefoooooo.com
Server: 24-197-160-17.static.gwnt.ga.charter.com
Address: 24.197.160.17
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: shouldnotresolvefoooooo.com
Addresses: 64.158.56.56, 63.251.179.56
C:\Documents and Settings\hoffmabi>nslookup fuckyoucharterthisshouldntresolve.com
Server: 24-197-160-17.static.gwnt.ga.charter.com
Address: 24.197.160.17
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: fuckyoucharterthisshouldntresolve.com
Addresses: 64.158.56.56, 63.251.179.56
Fuck! Charter is trying to be helpful and resolving all hostnames, even those that don't really exist. Instead of doing what they are supposed to do and returning an error that thissitedoesnotexistatall.com doesn't resolve, they are lying to me and my project and telling me it does. Hello again SiteFinder didn't we stop all this bullshit 5 years ago?
So, I try this with craziness in a web browser and I get this helpful page:
The search results on the prior page were provided because the domain name you entered into the address bar is either improperly formatted, currently unavailable, nonexistent, or part of a keyword search. This service is designed to enhance your web surfing experience
Only its not, it messing up my program because things that should not exist are being reported as existing!... ... [Grrrrrrrrrrrr]
Note: In order for opt-out to work properly, you need to accept a "cookie" indicating that you have opted out of this service. If you use a program that removes cookies, you will have to repeat this opt-out process when the cookie is deleted. The cookie placed on your computer will contain the site name: ".charter.net".
Great, just freaking great. There is no way to turn it off. They are always going to resolve the non-existent hostname, and then do an HTTP 302 redirect to their bullshit captive portal, only to then see a cookie that tells them to give me an error page, which is an HTML page made to look like Internet Explorers default DNS error page.
Way to consider programs that do DNS resolution that don't use HTTP.
I hate Charter so much right now.
Update They are doing very odd things. At first it seemed they are only doing this with domains directly off a TLD. So the non-existent dfklsdfaklsdafkldafkl.com resolves but the non-existent foobar.verisign.com does not. However the non-existent Fdsafdsfdsafdsa.google.com resolves.
God damn idiots.
In an odd bit of humor, their mocked up IE DNS error page is all messed up. First, it doesn't display images in in anything other than IE because they are using the res:// protocol. I hope Microsoft fucking sues them for using the IE DNS error page word for word.
Had the need to create some orby icons this weekend and instead of using a resource editor or Google images to "borrow" someone else's I used this tutorial.
Looptopia '08 Chicago's All-Night Cultural Celebration, May 2, 2008
Topic: Miscellaneous
8:51 pm EDT, May 3, 2008
With the sounds of Looptopia still ringing in our ears and the sights and sensations having been intricately etched into our minds, Chicago Loop Alliance would like to express it’s sincere thanks to the artists, venues, sponsors, partners, and participants that made this event such and incredible and unique experience. Please continue to visit the website for an event photo gallery and post event updates.
It's a good time to be in Chicago. Last night, deep dish pizza, belly dancers, some crazy stuff with fire, and a late night show at Second City. Today, museums and culture and tonight a Dueling piano bar!
What should I do in Chicago? I've got til Tuesday, and then we play, "what do in Vegas when hundred billion multiple national corporations aren't footing the bill."
One big difference is a new aria he wrote for Princess Turandot. It attempts to tackle the opera's main difficulty: how can the cold-hearted ice princess Turandot fall suddenly and deeply in love with her suitor, Calaf? The new aria aims to give psychological depth to Turandot's transformation while staying faithful to Puccini's original music.
"We wanted to respect Puccini's style and finish the work in the same way. We didn't want my contribution to be completely Chinese or completely modern or completely different from Puccini," Hao says.
I would like to see Turandot. Unfortunately, the most recent performance in Atlanta I found reference to was in fall of 2007. :-(
So today while speaking with one of my house-mates who mentioned that polar bears are becoming at risk of extinction, she made a plea that they were so cute.
While I agree, the polar bears we see in commercials are actually cute - real polar bears will eat your face.... much like the ones seen here in the golden compass. (Note: the above bears are alive only because of the coke bottle in their paws)
Why didn't they eat the little girl? I don't know but how fucking awesome was that? Mother fucking bears! At first I thought the movie was going to suck but this scene is worth it. They should have just renamed the movie "Mother Fucking Bears." Why you might ask - because MOTHER FUCKING BEARS, thats why!
Back to my point. Stephen Colbert has it right to be afraid of bears. Bears will eat you. They are not nice and cuddly which tells me that my house-mate would be eaten in the wilderness.
It isn't as though they are that dumb either. May I present exhibit Wojtek (Polish for Soldier Bear). Wojtek would carry heavy artillery shells for the Polish during WWII. That is not the coolest part. The coolest part is the soldiers considered him part of the team and would sit around and smoke cigarettes and drink beer with him.
What kind of jackass play fights with a bear? Wojtek liked water so much he would drain the water supply if they didn't keep the shower locked. Imagine if the Polish had no soldiers and only bears.... it wouldn't matter how much technology the Germans had because no one fights an army of bears. Especially, beer drinking cigarette smoking bears.
In conclusion: If bears had opposable thumbs, we'd be the ones going extinct.
Study Finds 'Free Open Source Software Is Costing Vendors $60 Billion' | Negative Approach - CNET Blogs
Topic: Miscellaneous
2:26 pm EDT, Apr 21, 2008
Open Source software is raising havoc throughout the software market. It is the ultimate in disruptive technology, and while to it is only 6% of estimated trillion dollars IT budgeted annually, it represents a real loss of $60 billion in annual revenues to software companies," said Jim Johnson, Chairman, The Standish Group International, Boston, MA
If the $60 billion is true (and I would assume based on Standish's five years of research it is) then we have been dramatically underestimating the impact open source is having on the traditional vendors. We've known there is a effect, and now we finally have some numbers (and $60 billion is a whopper.)
It's a great time to be an open source company.
Even if 60 billion is correct, don't think of this as open source taking money out of the pocket of the software market without giving back. While OSS has reduced some markets (databases are a good example, web servers is another), it has enabled other markets to exist. Think about all the network/security appliances out there that are built on Linux/(Free|Open|Net)BSD that would not be economically viable without a free operating system.
