Hell. This is too much. I think I need help. (May 28, 2004)
I've been playing about with Macromedia Flash for a year or so now, and have just re-learnt (or really, am in the process of re-learning) Flash MX 2004 Professional.

And here's what I came up with.

Help.

http://82.42.97.52/pigeon/pigeon
http://82.42.97.52/pigeon/bomb
http://82.42.97.52/pigeon/surreality
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(6 replies, Latest reply: Jun 2, 2004)

I'll give it a few months... (May 25, 2004)
...and if things don't start getting better around here, I'll be pushed to at least take an extended break.

I'm not going to rant. That's all I have to say.
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(11 replies, Latest reply: May 27, 2004)

Beep-beep! (May 13, 2004)
So, this in the latest installment of my progress on learning to drive features one of the most hectic road systems in the area. I started off on a simple (!) main road, which I could handle reasonably well at 30mph in 4th, and then just around the side streets for a block or so.

Then, instructed to park the car and turn off the engine, I was given a theory introduction to crossings. And dammit. Why do Pelican and Puffin crossings have to be so similar? They could at least have redesigned them. But anyway. It doesn't make all that much difference.

Don't ever let anybody tell you driving on dual-carriageways and the like is better because you're at a faster speed and everything you do is a smooth action (changing lanes, etc). It's uber-stressful. On the way, we must've encountered a helluva lot of traffic lights (one set about five seconds in front of another for chrissake), an accident scene, all the types of crossing in the theory introduction, a few necessary lane changes and the rest. It was like it was planned in a learner centre, *everything* was going on.

A Police Ambulance came up the road as I was parked in my own street, but I didn't get a chance to give way to it, being parked and all. I imagine as long as you don't get all panicky about the emergency vehicles, just hold back, let it overtake you and give it room before picking your speed up again, it's probably quite easy. But anyway. We come to my next issue: stalling.

I'm fine getting myself back into first at traffic lights, handbrake on and everything, revs up, handbrake off, clutch up, gas, go. But I keep coming up from the clutch too quickly. O, how n00bish that I start the engine again at every set of lights.

Well almost. Hopefully I have it sorted for my next lesson (Seems to be the way with me. Make mistkaes for 1hr 45 minutes, then get over them in the last 15 minutes.) but as long as I don't rush moving off again, I should make it fine.

Next issue. Keeping a steady speed over 20.
If I'm in a 30 zone, I tend to stick to about 20-25, and lapse back into about 20 again. Because I'm conscious of the fact that I actually *do* that though, next lesson should help me fix it.

So, take time moving off, and get to 30 and keep the foot still. Should be ok. I think the reason I do that though, is because when I just glance at the speedometer, it's a glance too long, and I end up crossing lanes a bit, so I think I find comfort in going at 20.

Although, when the traffic went down a bit I was definitely a more efficient driver. I reckon it's all the psychology of it. So maybe if I tell my brain not to worry I'll be fine.

I guess.
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(34 replies, Latest reply: May 27, 2004)

Anyone with a blog, read this. (Apr 29, 2004)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F19585?thread=414951

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(No replies)

Spam, Spim, and .. Spext. :-/ (Apr 27, 2004)
So we all know what Spam is. Unsolicited e-mail which tends to offer all kinds of things like enlargement of certain anatomical areas, credit reports, software (or rather, in a vain attempt to beat my spam filters, 'stf0wrae'), and the obvious, porn. Spam comes by e-mail.

Now, a lesser-known annoyance is known as Spim, and sent via Instant Messaging networks such as ICQ, or AIM. This will often come in the form of some bloke who is as butch as they come by day, but put him in front of a computer keyboard and he becomes 'Sandra the dirty webcam chick', giving out messages to random people which contain little more than a URL to, supposedly, a webcam. Spim is mostly porn-based. At least on ICQ. That's why I originally gave up my account.

Now, I'm not even sure if Spext exists in the Glossary of the Interweb. Or whether it should actually be 'Spxt'. I think I just made it up. This is Spam by Text (Text is a crap name for what the rest of the world calls SMS Messaging). I know 2legs has had this problem, going by his recent Journal Entry on it - But anyway, I shall retype, word for 'wrd', one of the two duplicate messages I received when I turned my phone on the other day (And I wouldn't have even done that had I not needed a calculator, which is built in to my phone. Very handy. The Messaging part is also useful to store little notes to myself. Who needs a PDA?):

From:
WINNER

Message Centre:
+111111111111

Time:
25-Apr-2004, 13:30:20

Message:
URGENT! We are trying to contact U. Todays draw shows that you have won a £800 prize GUARANTEED. Call 090 500 **** from land line. Claim A26. Valid 12hrs only

Now first off. It's 'We have been trying to contact you'. It's also bad to guarantee something you can't promise. I starred ou the last four digits of the phone number because I'm not going to give the number out (for one thing, I've given you my prize claim code. ) Landline has been amalgamated into one word in modern English, now, too. And there should have been a full-stop (period) after 'only'.

Honestly. And they wonder why nobody can write properly.

By the way, that message centre was probably forged and fake, so there's no need to . They usually have a valid phone number for the SMS centre. Forging it to a fake one covers their tracks, much in the same way as forging the headers in e-mail to 'forget' which server it was sent from (And I'm not even sure that's possible; that header is added just before the message is sent- You'd have to hack Postfix for that)
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(No replies)

"My Other Computer is a Macintosh" (Apr 27, 2004)
Well. Almost.

A) Windows and 'Mac' are on the same machine.
B) It's not strictly speaking /actually/ Mac.
C) It's just a themed extra shell.
D) It looks and acts like a Mac though.
E) It has schweet extras that the normal Windows shell can't handle by itself.

See my Photohost account (look in Aston Screenshots) or check out my blog for screenshots and a more in-depth explanation.

Photohost: http://chris.photohost.vze.com/
Blog: http://www.aka-blog.vze.com/
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(28 replies, Latest reply: May 3, 2004)

Birthday (Apr 19, 2004)
w00t. So yesterday was my Birthday.
I woke up and to my surprise had only a few hours to my first driving lesson, which was a nice surprise - to begin with, I kept stalling a few times but toward the end of the lesson I think my clutch control improved greatly - we'll have to see how I control it next Sunday, which is my next lesson.

I had a few pseudo-official lessons with BSM before, and /then/ it seemed that the instructors took it as read that I'd familiarised myself with all the controls, knew how everything worked, et al, but my official instructor is brilliant in comparison to both a) the instructors at those few unofficial lessons and b) the glitchy driving simulator software I have which always screams at me for not doing something right, but doesn't tell me where I went wrong. Thanks to the first lesson I had yesterday, I know now where to position the car in the road depending on where you plan to go, and I'm checking my mirrors *at least* every seven seconds.

I also learnt that the little button-thing on the gear lever is only pulled up when you want to go into reverse - not all the time as the instructors from the unofficial lessons said - thus why I used to be completely incapable of selecting first gear, and moving straight across to reverse instead. (But I think that may've been carried over from starting off in an Automatic - you have to pull a button up on the 'gear' lever, if you can call it that, to release the lever in an Automatic - an Automatic Vauxhall Corsa, at least.)

I can change gears quickly and swiftly too - and with a bit of practise of clutch control, the car won't even stutter coming back off the clutch with the new gear. It's just brilliant when you watch someone drive and marvel at how much of a skill it is, and don't believe them when they say it's really easy - and when you now know how it's done and meet it with ease.

I was also congratulated for going no faster than, tops, 15mph on my first lesson, since apparently usually people drive really fast when they start off, with a false sense of confidence at being behind the wheel in a dual-controlled car - I lost count of the amount of times my instructor said 'Just give a little more gas..' - but then there were speed bumps around the quaint little estate I was driving round; And whoever thought driving round a circuit at roughly 10mph for 2 hours wouldn't get old and boring?

So every Sunday at 12:30 now I have a lesson - I don't think it'll be too long until I'm confident enough (and can drive on main roads) to drive myself home.

So after my driving lesson, we all went out to a restaurant, and I had a steak and ale pie in onion gravy - unspeakably the greatest meal on the menu. - Followed by a rich toffee and chocolate cheesecake, and a few drinks back at the local pub.

A great day in that it was just a quiet day with little fuss made.

*impatient for next driving lesson*

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(29 replies, Latest reply: May 26, 2004)

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Apr 8, 2004)
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0563477024.02.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

Despite with the news of the now-recorded Tertiary Phase of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy rendering my copy of The Collector's Edition of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Series somewhat less 'complete', I'm listening to it again, but right now I'm listening to the documentary that comes on one of the CDs - which aired on Radio 4 in 1998; Douglas Adams' Guide to the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the differences 20 years or so make to a person's voice is evident. Peter Jones sounds - a little strange in this recording.

Geoffrey McGivern's voice sounds different too - it was a bit higher in the episodes.

Hmm.
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(No replies)

"What's Your Other Name?" - The Web-App (Apr 6, 2004)
As inspired by F19585?thread=401937, I've decided to take a break from coding difficult stuff (that will revolutionise the standards for Blogging services to meet, by the way) and code something basic.

I'll post again here when it's done. Visit the Thread, and if you have any ideas for better name-substitutes to put into it, let me know and I'll change 'em.
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(11 replies, Latest reply: Apr 8, 2004)

Friends list Health (Apr 4, 2004)
For someone who tends to take long breaks from h2g2 every month or so, I think I'm doing quite well, as far as my Friends list is concerned.

1. Number of Researchers on my Friends list: 28
2. Number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list: 19.
3. Number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list but are merely using the Friends list as a stalking tool: 6.
4. Number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list (overall) minus the number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list but are merely using the Friends list as a stalking tool: 13.
5. Number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list (overall) minus the number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list but are merely using the Friends list as a stalking tool, doubled: 26.
6. Difference between the Number of Researchers on my Friends list and the number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list (overall) minus the number of Researchers who have me on their Friends list but are merely using the Friends list as a stalking tool: 2.
7. Percentage of unwillingness to come up with a significant meaning for the number 2 and thus make my Friends list network special in some way: 100%

------------

It could of course, be much more than 28/26(13).
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(47 replies, Latest reply: Apr 26, 2004)

Linux (Mar 27, 2004)
w00t!

So here I am, back on Linux. Type. Type. Type...

type.

I have a lot of work to do in transferring the SQL data and structure, along with pages and scripts from the Windows server (on the same machine), but - it shouldn't take long - and what's more, it won't be 'work'. It's Linux!

Currently, I'm using Galeon - I thought I'd opened Mozilla, but must've got confused in all the excitement - I'll go download Opera later. I've got Gaim working, so I'm logged into AIM. I'll also get aMSN or something later, perhaps Kmess, so I can login to MSN, also.

But w00t! This is almost as good as having a Mac.

w00tw00tw00t!

h2g2 looks weird in that default Serif font. I'll have to copy over the Windows fonts too.
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(2 replies, Latest reply: Mar 29, 2004)

Nearly There Now... (Mar 21, 2004)


But don't worry. It's nothing sinister.
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(17 replies, Latest reply: Mar 24, 2004)

Something Incredibly Pointless... (Mar 17, 2004)
...Is something I haven't done for a while, and I felt I had to do something without need or meaning. So I decided to find the Hexadecimal colour code for my eye colour.

I think it's 000066, which is incidentally the same colour of Classic Goo. I always knew I was special.

Note that I'm probably wrong and 000066 is probably actually darker than I thought.
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(17 replies, Latest reply: Mar 19, 2004)

Hello. (Mar 6, 2004)
I suppose I really should post something of interest here.

But:

1) I can't be bothered
2) I can't think
3) I can't be bothered to think

So instead, I'll just post a message under-compensating for the lack of something of interest in my Journal.

So here it is.

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(17 replies, Latest reply: Mar 11, 2004)

The power of the non-digibox access (Feb 12, 2004)
Ok, for those of you who have been living under a rock, or just haven't noticed what's happened in the past week or so, here's what has happened.

A company called Telewest, who provide Interactive Digital TV services in the UK had been contacted to report abuse of their service. Now, unfortunately, their pulling the plug on such abuse constituted some h2g2 Researchers who accessed h2g2 via Telewest's Set Top Box being 'locked out'. At least, from the digibox method. They have not been banned from h2g2 at all.

I was the one who contacted them. I felt it would be a good idea, to inform those who used the digibox method, that what they were doing could be seen by Telewest as theft of their service, and could result in action on Telewest's part, before I actually sent the correspondence. This was on the whole taken the wrong way, by a probable reading-too-much-into-it situation, which resulted in many a personal abuse flinging.

Now, it seems the digibox users who were complaining that they have no access to a PC were either lying (and why you'd want to, I don't know) or have good friends who use official methods - who probably see themselves as an "überl337 h@x0r" [über-elite hacker].

Outside of h2g2, on the e-mail front, interesting things have been happening. Firstly, I receive an e-mail from a Researcher who now has no access to h2g2 via their digibox, with seems to be a reply to a message I sent. The reply did not have an original message attached, and so I asked politely for the original to be forwarded to me, stating that I hadn't sent any e-mail to this person, and would like to see what they're replying to.

The result: A badly written e-mail simply saying something to the effect of 'Aren't you glad you're locked out of h2g2' - or something similar. This was apparently sent from *me*. Now, as a Web Developer (not by trade yet, but hopefully soon), I know how this could be done. All you need to do is write a script or program that can send e-mail via any SMTP (Mail Sending) server.

In every e-mail, there are pieces of 'code' called 'headers'. In these headers, resides the contents of your e-mail, who it's to, what the subject is, if there any attachments, et al, etc. Mail-sending programs can forge these headers, and pretend to be from anyone. It appears my e-mail address has been forged in the 'From: ' header, and as a result, the e-mail message thinks it's from ME.

Not only that, but they're also forging other people's e-mail addresses. Notably, they're forging a Telewest Digital TV E-mail address, which is of the format [firstname][secondname][number]@[domain].[tld] - I received one e-mail from this one account around 15 times.

Due to some little differences, I can tell where it was definitely sent by a TV E-mail account, and where it most definitely was not.

Somewhere down the line, when you send an e-mail, you have to identify yourself to an SMTP server. Such an SMTP server may contact another server, and another, until it reaches the inbox of the intended user. As this happens, the headers are added to, and the machine identifiers of all those computers involved, (clients and servers) are added into the headers. As such, the headers provide a nice history log of communication, which eventually leads back to the originating machine (Client).

After analysing the headers of e-mails I've received, I can determine they're from one user. They also happen to be a Blueyonder customer. So it wouldn't surprise me if it's someone who's lost friends via the digibox access cut. Which is sad, but it does not warrant this kind of behaviour.

This is just speculation, but I suspect that such a person is also using another script or program to attack threads and fora around h2g2 with automated spams. It goes no further to get the 'digibox people' a good name, does it?
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(67 replies, Latest reply: Feb 22, 2004)

The Telewest issue (Feb 9, 2004)
Recently, there has been an overly overexaggerated issue of the 'banning' of 'digibox' (or Telewest Set Top Box) users, as a sort of 'hidden agenda' for informing the company Telewest of the unauthorised usage of their equipment and resources for access to Internet sites.

Before anyone begins to think "But it's not just Digibox users who are trouble on h2g2", or "What right of yours is it to ban h2g2 Researchers?", or something which just as similarly misses the point, let me say what happened.

Contact with Telewest was made, giving a technical explanation of what happens when so many digiboxes request the vast array of information on h2g2, and Telewest seem to have acted on this. They are well within their right to close down what has been clichéd as - any sort of loophole, and that is what they appear to have done.

It was not the direct action of any h2g2 Researcher that such an action happened; It was an internal decision of Telewest. The only people who 'closed down the magic-email' are Telewest.

It looks like they /were/ interested in getting anauth'd access shut off afterall. Like I said, in response to all those "But Telewest know - they use it themselves!" and "Telewest don't even care. They already know about it." and "Go ahead. Tell them. I think you'll find they'll be very uninterested" messages, no h2g2 Researcher, who doesn't happen to be a member of Telewest management could have spoken for Telewest.

Note: This entry is not intended for yet another long and pointless flamewar, for those who had friends on the Telewest system, or who also used the Telewest system, but are at this moment using an official mode of Internet access. Please don't bother.

I hope the matter is left abandoned here; No matter what conspiracy theory/hidden agenda you might wish to expose, the main point is: Telewest could not have liked h2g2 being accessed anyway, otherwise it would still be accessible via the Telewest Set Top Box now. Take that into account before expressing your extreme hatred for me.


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(65 replies, Latest reply: Feb 20, 2004)

This Space Reserved... (Dec 25, 2003)
For an intellectual, thought provoking, meaningful Journal Entry.
For now, though, enjoy these Christmas Smileys.



I forgot the rest...
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(5 replies, Latest reply: Dec 26, 2003)

Utter Tosh! (Jul 30, 2003)
This phrase is circling my brain right now. Please give me an example of something ridiculously incorrect so I may use it.


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(11 replies, Latest reply: Jul 31, 2003)

Raar. (Jul 29, 2003)
Wurr.

Bored.
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(54 replies, Latest reply: Feb 17, 2004)

Glurg. (Jul 11, 2003)
Procrastination Knocks, aka Opens the door, greets it, invites it in and asks if it's comfortable and if it would like any tea or coffee.

Meanwhile, it calls its friend Boredom, and they come around aswell. By this time I can't even be bothered to make the drinks, so no coffee for Boredom. Procrastination would drink the highly intriguing dark brown fluid in the piece of pottery just handed to it, but it just can't be bothered.

I'm bored, and I have stuff to do. Stuff I'd rather not do. Stuff I want to put off. Stuff I also cannot be bothered to do. So I come here, to h2g2.

But the conversations are slow and as normal. I'm bored with everything. Can't be bothered finding anything new. Glurg.

Glurg. Glurg. Glurg.
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(No replies)

Finally! (Jul 10, 2003)
After a long time since first hearing bits of the radio series, and after seeing the TV series tribute week on BBC 2 a year or so ago, I've finally gone ahead and splashed out on buying the radio series!

It comes with all 12 episodes, 2 special edition ('The Collector's Edition') Documentuary-style CDs - Douglas Adams` Guide to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a special edition history booklet and a nice Collector's Edition presentation box. I'm pretty sure it's the one that the h2g2 (or the Beeb's Cult TV site - I can't quite remember) gave away in a competition a while ago - it looks the same anyway.. According to my visual memory of it, which granted is very, very vague.

Each CD has its own sleeve which fits inside the box with a clear window revealing the 'screen' image on the sleeve. (The whole box set is in the graphical style of that wholly remarkable book. )

CDs 1-6 have the twelve episodes on them, and CDs 7 & 8 are the documentuary programmes; First, a 'history of' programme styled with a sort of play-on the introduction of the radio series itself, and a radio interview on Radio Four which Douglas did.

I also bought myself 'The Deeper Meaning of Liff'.

By the way - BBCShop has it for around £40 (£42.42, if I remember rightly. ), but I bought it for around £32 from Amazon.
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(No replies)

The Beeb (Jun 30, 2003)
Because of the Tennis, as usual, the Beeb's schedule naturally gets a bit jumbled up - but at 9pm when I was ready to watch Spooks (regular as clockwork, on the dot. ), I was told very politely by the BBC One announcer (announcetress? ) that Spooks will be postponed this week, and Eastenders will be shown instead.

Eastenders - prioritised over Spooks.

What a load of Dingo's Kindeys...

I hate soaps... Damn this viewing majority. If only they had more sense and the power to think for themselves and make the ratings for all the soaps in the world sink into redundancy.
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(No replies)

I suppose it's about time I wrote in this... (Jun 30, 2003)
I've been back here on h2g2 for about 3 days now.
And I still haven't updated my h2g2 journal or space... .

Well, for anyone who hasn't found it out yet, I forgot my h2g2 login details, but now have them back, thanks to the great h2g2.support.

What to write about?

*Glances around*
*Notices the 'Add a Journal Entry' prompt text...*

## "We all lead interesting lives, and your Journal is the place to tell everyone exactly what makes your days buzz by. Here you can talk about what you're thinking of doing, what you think about what you're thinking of doing, and when you're thinking of doing it, because, unlike Guide Entries, Journal Entries are associated with specific points in time."" ##

Well then.
I'm thinking of coding the rest of a script I'm writing. The script is basically a downloadsite back-end. The kind of stuff that runs sites like C|Net's downloads and such. With a few more features.
When am I thinking of doing this? Well, last month, but I've been too busy. And I've been putting it off. I'll go do some coding now... That is, when I'm confident that the dark blue (in Goo) threads in the myconversations box (which for me is a very convenient Opera 7.11 panel) are eliminated and I've updated myself on all the backlog.

I'm also thinking of changing my Linux distribution from Mandrake to RedHat/SuSE/Debian. Feel free to sway my decision. Or not.
When?
Soon. Very soon. Once the above script is complete, and I've backed-up all of my files. I'll needs lots of blank CDs for this. Not only for the back-ups, but for the Linux Distro itself.

What do I think about what I'm thinking about doing and when I'm thinking about doing them?
I think I've got too much stuff to do. This will take a while. Erm.

*Notices the length of the scrollbar on the text-box*

Fair enough, that'll do.
I've some more threads to reply to before I can go and code anyway...
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(No replies)

Laaaaayla..... (Feb 18, 2003)
What a great song.
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(9 replies, Latest reply: Jul 29, 2003)

Goodbye, cruel internet connection... (Feb 14, 2003)
..Whereart thou hi speed connection thou art promising me? Thou hast been cruel to what thee deem as a 'power user', but thy shalt return in the morrow, no doubt for some h2g2 action thy hath been missing out on
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(1 reply, Latest reply: Jun 29, 2003)


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