Yeehar! Is there on BBC4 and it's as good as the old one!

Ford Prefect: Will you listen!
Arthur Dent: I have been, but I don't think it's helping.
F.P. Dear suffering Zarquon! Look, Look!
The sensomatic is flashing.
Either it's a moving disturbance in the fabric of space-time
or an eddie, a pool of instability somewhere in our vacinity ...
A.D. ... or a flat battery.
F.P. The flashings are getting stronger!
There, behind that sofa.
A.D. Why is there a sofa in that field?
F.P. I told you; eddies in the time-space continuum!
A.D. Then tell him to come and collect his sofa.
F.P. Arthur, that sofa is there because of the time-space instability
I've been trying to get your terminally softened brain to come to grips with!
It's been washed up out of the continuum.
It's cosmic jetsom.
It's our only way out of here.
Come on, it's flying away from us.
A.D. Yeehar!

I couldn't put it better ... YEEHAR!

Nice to see that the dinosaur hasn't been removed yet.

I have just got to agree with Bruce on his Aardvark rant today about the English language and it's demise.
I can't claim to be brilliant with the use of the it, but I do at least try.
What makes me gobsmacked is the inability of young programmers to create prose which are destined for the human brain. They know the discipline of syntax, punctuation and spelling when they write for the computer, but the same respect for the recipient seems to mysteriously vanish when a report for human consumption is required.
I don't blame the new "txting" phenomenon for this, even though it does seem to leak into mainstream English at inappropriate times (particularly when marketing geniuses think they are being trendy).
There just seems to be an unwillingness to respect the recipient of the message; perhaps a sense of a casualness which they feel needs to be translated into sloppyness in the delivery. I don't know.
The alternative explanation seems even less palateable: that the small fortune we spend on education in this country is not particularly effective ... and a bigger fortune wouldn't fix it.

It may be a year old, but I've only just discovered it.
There's a neat graph of the topology of the internet on the Caida site.
It's actually a graph of the Autonomous Systems, but as they tend to map 1-to-1 to the ISPs, it becomes a picture of the 'net.
It's a rather graphic demonstration of the dominance of the US in the network, but when compared with some of the older graphs, you can see the rise of the Asian block.

Metiria Turei is recording her "impressions and considerations of the select committee hearings of the foreshore and seabed bill."
Yeah, a greenie politician blog.
Having heard her intelligent and considered opinion on this issue, this is an important way for the proceeding of this strange process to be given prominence, and could become an important public record.
Her impressions on some of the antics of the other commitee members are enlightening and depressing.
Go Met!

This posting on Bugtraq clearly demonstrates the stupidity of relying on obscurity to protect a default backdoor in internet equipment.

I was playing with a
Dynalink RTA 230 (http://www.dynalink.co.nz/products/rta230.htm), a linux
based mips-cored adsl router. Looking at embedded linux system, i've found something like a backdoor:

# cat /etc/passwd
admin:xxxxx(obscured)xxxxx:0:0:Administrator:/:/bin/sh
userNotUsed:YNf8oSCwK/0/Y:0:0:Technical Support:/:/bin/sh

Then forced the pass with John:

root@sbongaz:~/john-1.6/run# ./john passwd -show
userNotUsed:userNotU:0:0:Technical Support:/:/bin/sh

the first user is the administration account also used by http config center;
the second entry in passwd is not visible or modificable from the user config center. Luckly access to the http config center and telnet shell is blocked (not enabled by default) from outside the lan.

When will they ever learn that there is no substitute for real security ... and you can't hide backdoors.

It's really quite unbelievable!
The big M$ has decided that it has discovered 'Tabbed Browsing'.
I don't know about other people, but my experience with M$IE has been that it doesn't know what a tab is!
Now, I know that this patent is aimed at being able to navigate around a page by using the tab key to find the next link, but hey, that's been around for years. I can remember using it to get around with Lynx (now that's showing yr age!). So I'm sure it'll never stand up when legally challenged.
As far as I'm concerned 'Tabbed Browsing' or 'Tabbed Navigation' is the joy of being able to group navigation threads together in the same window by opening links in new tabs, thus building a sort of two dimensional map of your recent browsing history.
This is a feature that is totally absent from the flagship M$IE, so if you're unfortunate enough to be using it for a serious surfing session, you end up a screen full of unconnected windows.

Now this is something that I would just love to have on my desk!

This is an e-mail that came in this afternoon.
I'm still trying to make up my mind about this one ...

Dear Brothers and Sisters.
My wife Karina was lost in result terror at school of city of Beslan, and 11-years daughter Alina, now to be in the Central Krasnodar hospital, in very heavy condition. At her a gunshot wound and strong burns. The daughter constantly calls mum. I do not know that to me to do. I would not want to live. I live only one dream: to see the daughter healthy, happy that she went and it was pleased lifes.I live and worked two years in Latvia on earnings and dreamed to return back. As long I was in distances from a house as I regret that have left them and consequently could not save them, I never shall forgive to myself. You see with it it is impossible to live! I am simply compelled to ask about the help of everyone who may help ours grief. As soon as Alina it becomes better we for ever we shall leave from here where all reminds a pain of loss. I shall be glad to any answer and any help. I am sorry for my bad English.

My e-mail: andrey_tm@bk.ruMy
Bank account:
Beneficiary Bank Name: Parex Banka
Beneficiary Bank Account Name: Andrejs Andrejevs
Beneficiary Bank Address: 3 Smilshu Str., Riga, LV-1522, Latvia
Beneficiary Account Number (IBAN): LV85PARX0007086093000
Swift: PARXLV22

It looks kinda genuine but then the following text was "hidden" at the end of it:

zaofolhql uhvneqmkt qlaqvvnr lhjaafbt fcouporai ugygwsnye tgmo

It's sad that we have to treat this sort of thing as suspicious.
If it is a phishing e-mail, then it sure is in the worst taste.

Spent a while sorting out a web page with polish pronounciation characters on it.
Things as obscure as ‘ł’ and ‘ż’ , through to the innocent looking ‘ś’.
Anyway, I started thinking about the māori macron & how it was presented.
So here's a wee table (more for my future reference that for anyone else's edification).

Ā	Ā	ā	ā
Ē	Ē	ē	ē
Ī	Ī	ī	ī
Ō	Ō	ō	ō
Ū	Ū	ū	ū

Tonight's Hawke's Bay Today has an headline quoting a letter from inmates being held in the police cells because of the current over-crowding.
In the letter they are claiming their rights have been breached ... blah, blah, and " ... we are seeking compensation."
After the ridiculous judgement last week where compensation was awarded to prisoners for "mistreatment" and denial of rights, every low life in the system is now going to have a go at getting them some of the loot.
The lawyer for the crims was quoted as saying that he didn't have a problem with them being paid compensation because they shouldn't be denied their rights as citizens. Bloody hell! These wallies gave up their rights as a citizen when they went down the steps! When they prove they can function as responsible citizens in society, then maybe they can have some of the rights.
We seem to be forgetting that citizenship is a right which must be earned, and then defended, not something to be claimed and exploited by bottom-feeding scum!
Damages compensation should NOT be paid to criminals in jail. They should be able to gain justice for any perceived wrongs and have their day in court, but their compensation should only being found right.
If they are being held in remand, and are subsequently found not guilty, only then perhaps reparation should be considered.
I think the judge was plain wrong, and their lawyer is a fool.
</rant>