2009 January 21 | Comments Off
By Matt P
So you run a website and you’re having constant problems with spambots. Or maybe you run a discussion board and you’ve got some trouble members that just won’t go away. It can get annoying when they just keep coming back.
However, there’s a relatively simple solution to the problem. Apache, which is the software that runs a good portion of web hosts, has the ability to control access to your site with simple scripting. These scripted rules are contained in the httpd.conf files in your server’s root directory. If you don’t have root access, you can do much the same thing in the .htaccess file in your page’s root. Virtually all hosts will give you the ability to edit one or the other.
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2009 January 19 | Comments Off
By Matt P
It’s been a double-header of bad news for our friends in the music recording industry this week. As you may know, I consider the industry, the RIAA in specific, to be the worst example of shady business practices and borderline racketeering currently in existence.
There’s something to be said for copyright infringement and intellectual property rights sure, but these guys take it to a level of supervillainy that would make Ian Fleming proud. Simply put, they need to die. Their cartel is based on an antiquated business model that screws everybody from the customers to their own signed artists.
It’s “their” copyright to sell, sure, but when you’ve cornered the market, made it virtually impossible for an artist to survive without you, and then attempt to use both criminal and civil law to enforce your edicts, that’s called “unfair competition” or “monopoly”.
To that end, I can only take immense joy in any setback, no matter how minor, that they receive in their moronic crusade.
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2009 January 8 | 1 Comment »
By Matt P
If you’ve been reading along, you know that my recent project has involved theme design for BBS/forum software; specifically I’ve been playing around with myBB and a beta release of SMF v.2
As per my last post, myBB uses a database-driven template system, keeping all the information in the board software. SMF on the other hand uses physical template files. Which you prefer is largely a matter of preference, though I admit I lean towards having physical files.
At any rate, my goal in creating a theme/skin is not just to make it ‘pretty’. My goal from the start has been to strip out all the bloated table code. Tables are used for presentation of information, not page layout, so says the mighty W3C – and I’m not in a position to disagree.
Indeed, my recent forays into web design have shown that semantic XHTML markup and CSS stylesheets can do (literally) anything you need them to do in the hands of a competent designer. Simply put, tables are bloated code and utterly redundant at this stage of web design.
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2009 January 7 | Comments Off
By Matt P
As per my last post, I spent a lot of time yesterday digging into the template structure on myBB. However I had it pointed out to me that while myBB uses a database-oriented template system and a dynamic template engine, SMF actually has physical theme files.
Basically myBB stores all the theme information in the software, and then uses template variables to call information into the files. This is also how vBulletin handles themes and templates, as I understand it.
In comparison, SMF just uses plain old (X)HTML, PHP, and CSS files; no dealing with template variables.
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2009 January 6 | Comments Off
By Matt P
Recently, as a follow-on to my exploits into web development, I’ve begun looking into the various BBS/forum software out there.
For ages, I’d only ever used vBulletin and phpBB. Well, one foray into IPB, but I wasn’t terribly impressed by that one for a variety of reasons. At any rate, I hadn’t really considered any other options; I get stuck into habits, I guess.
While browsing around over at the Admin Zone forums, I’ve noticed a lot of other admins speaking highly of SMF and myBB, so I figured I’d check them out.
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2008 November 24 | Comments Off
By Matt P
I’ve been a fan of Dan Simmons ever since I read his original two books in the Hyperion cantos several years back: Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion together made up one of the more innovative and exciting space-opera epics I’ve read, well, ever. This one ranks right up there with the all-time grandfather of modern space opera, Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy; think what you will of Asimov, but I consider this the watermark that others must be tested against. At least you know where I’m coming from.
Hence I was quite excited to get hold of Simmons’ latest offering, the duology of Ilium and Olympos. These books were written several years ago, but what can I say? I’m a procrastinator. Just one look at the page count in these monsters lets you know that “epic” applies here – both of them break the 700 page mark, so be aware.
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2008 November 24 | Comments Off
By Matt P
I’ve been a bit slack lately with the reviewing and what not; laptop died (a whole ‘nother problem) and I just recently got my new one in. But in the mean time, I’ve been reading a lot. And I do mean a lot.
On the to-review list:
Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks
Diaspora by Greg Egan
The Temporal Void by Peter Hamilton
And I’ve still got Look to Windward and Use of Weapons, both set in Banks’ Culture universe, to read. On the non-fiction front, I’m reading a book called Cheap? The real cost of living in a low price, low wage world by David Bosshart, and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is on deck.
Woo.
2008 November 24 | Comments Off
By Matt P
Yes, I did.
Last night, I finally broke the magical 50K mark – and with a full seven days left to go.
What does this mean? It means I won the contest, for my second consecutive year. This is good and bad.
The good: I did a ton of writing. Writing 50K words even in 30 days is a feat. Doing it in 22 days is even more of a chore. I’ve got a lot of ideas fleshed out, and a lot of text to work with.
The bad: I had a revelation about the plot and characters that ironed itself out when I was around 44K words. Now what I really wanted to do was start fresh, deleting (or at least filing away) a big chunk of what was done. But since the goal here is volume, not quality, I just said to hell with it and trudged on – so I have a huge mess.
But there’s a silver lining. I now have the foundation of what could end up being a pretty decent novel if I choose to keep working on it. And make no mistake, I think I’ll keep working on this one.
2008 November 6 | Comments Off
By Matt P
I’ve said before that I’m a wannabe writer.
The unfortunate thing about being a fiction writer is that there’s no roadmap. There’s no 9-to-5 schedule and no manual spelling out a step by step process to success.
Enter the National Novel Writing Month, the NaNoWriMo for short. The NaNo is a contest for anyone that cares to enter. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, the month of November. The prize? You get the satisfaction of having written a 50K word novel – or 50K words towards a novel.
That goal averages out to ~1600 words per day, and the rules don’t allow any preliminaries. You can plan, outline, brainstorm, but no prose before the November 1st kick-off. Make no mistake, this is a goal that you can make. In fact, I did it last year – though I was less than impressed with the results.
I had only a vague idea of characters and no plot to speak of – unless you count “be awesome” as a plot. This year is a little different. I’ve got characters. I’ve got some situations, and a vague idea where I want it to go. Consequently the writing is a bit easier.
It’s the sixth day and as of this writing I’m at 10,441 words; just slightly ahead of the running average, and that’s after missing a whole day (since I’m short a laptop – but that’s a different post). Thanks to Google Docs, I’m still able to make progress.
Keep fingers crossed for me. I’m actually trying to make this into a reasonable novel this time around.
2008 November 6 | Comments Off
By Matt P
The title is, of course, facetious, but the man’s done something truly remarkable: a black man is now going to be the US President.
Of course, not everyone’s happy about this. As much as I was feeling no love for McCain during the campaign, I have to admit I felt a twinge of – not quite remorse, but maybe a lost opportunity – when the real McCain we all loved actually came back: just in time to concede defeat.
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2008 August 23 | Comments Off
By Matt P
So if you’re a metal-head of any sort, you’re aware that Metallica’s finishing up a new album.
If you’re like me, you’ve been disappointed by Metallica’s recent albums. It’s not that they’re bad, really. That’s not it at all. When you compare those to mainstream rock acts (Nickelback), they’re…mediocre, really, but not necessarily bad.
I am of course speaking of the era that began with Load and most recently resulted in St. Anger, which received a mixed reception at best.
No, the problem here is not those albums per se – the problem is that some of us actually listen to Metallica pre-Black Album, and we know what they’re actually capable of.
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2008 August 21 | Comments Off
By Matt P
I know it’s not in vogue these days, what with religious faith at all-time highs in the US and possibly around the world, but I’m not a believer.
Call me an atheist, agnostic, free thinker, whatever you care to label me: I don’t buy into the notion that there’s an all-knowing, all-powerful being watching every thing I do and judging my actions.
I just can’t buy it, not with every thing we know about the world. Modern science has given us insight into, well, everything, in ways that are unprecedented in human history. We have a decent understanding of everything from the stars and planets right on down to our own biology, and even an inkling of why those things came about.
All that said, I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that nomadic goat-herders – one small group of many – wrote a book 2000 years ago that contains all the wisdom of the world.
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2008 August 20 | Comments Off
By Matt P
So we’re back at it again. That quadrennial wonder that is the US Presidential election.
When the so-called “leader of the free world” is selected by the populace to lead us for the next four years.
I’m sure the Founding Fathers had good intentions when they designed this system. After all, what could be more fair than letting We the People choose our leader? That idea was the cornerstone of our fledging democratic republic, after all.
But these days, I don’t see anything but a farce.
Here’s the latest example: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24196046-663,00.html
Now, I realize that there’s a few mitigating practicalities here. For better or worse, America has a large number of evangelical Christians. And you know, for all my non-belief, I don’t begrudge anyone his or her faith.
The problem is it doesn’t stay with the believer. In fact, this entire Forum on Faith just illustrates that.
What, exactly, does the religion of the candidate have to do with his job performance?
Oh, I realize it matters intently to single-issue voters: you know, those political masterminds that will vote for a candidate solely for where he stands on abortion, or gun control, or what have you.
But really, I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around why this is important. What bothers me most of all is not the faith, but the anti-intellectualism. It’s not even subtle; they’re outright saying that being intelligent and an intellectual is a bad thing.
Let that sink in. People are actually making the point that having someone intelligent in office is a drawback.
And the reason? It’s not 100% inspired by religion, but let’s be blunt here: people that are clinging to their guns and Bibles aren’t always the most logical, rational decision-makers. It’s just a fact of the matter – from an objective standpoint, I have to question the judgment of someone that puts more value in a Bible than common sense.
Religion may not be responsible, per se, but it sure does correlate strongly. Even worse, it gives “the working class” a banner to rally behind.
So in short, the US election has become a matter of pandering to the masses. Economic interests? Energy policy? Who cares about that when somebody might be having sex somewhere, right?
It should go without saying that I’m digusted at this. The election has lost any credibility with me at this point. Not that it had any to begin with, but this is just dragging the bottom.
It’s no longer a matter of rational decision-making, but doing what TV tells you to do.
The US deserves everything it’s getting, and I’m finding myself happier by the day that I left.
2008 August 13 | Comments Off
By Matt P
Not sure how many readers I actually have (probably not any), but this blog is more of a web design test-bed for me at the moment anyway.
I’ve been brushing up on my XHTML/PHP and CSS skills lately, and this blog is just one way for me to work on it.
I did come across something interesting lately though. If you haven’t been under a rock, you know what Myspace is. I don’t usually think much of it; I’m sure if you’re a teenager or a single person in your early to mid 20s, it’s great. But I’m out of that stage. At best, it’s a way for me to keep in touch with folks back in the States.
The big complaint is that Myspace is ugly. It’s ugly like pages you were developing back in 1995 with basic HTML. Some people have managed to “customize” their pages, but even this is taking us back to the caveman days of web design. There’s all kinds of formatting errors, ungainly glittering images, and generally thoughtless and obnoxious layouts.
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2008 July 24 | Comments Off
By Matt P
Well, been an interesting, but un-eventful month around here.
Darwin’s starting to get hot again, which is bad because it’s still technically the middle of winter down here.
My residency visa should be coming in within a month or so, I hope. And interestingly enough, I’m starting to consider IT work as a potential job option. All this free time has let me rediscover my old interests in computer geek-ery, everything from web and graphic design right on up to networking.
Not that I was ever particularly good at any of it, mind you, but hey – how many people are?
