Month: November 2005

The birthday post…

D'Arque Bishop2 Comments

Yep, it’s my birthday today… turned the grand old 32. Fun fun. All things considered, it’s been a very very good birthday for me. :-)

I didn’t go out to dinner tonight, mainly because Mom and Dad took me out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, which was excellent as always. As for lunch today… my coworkers and I went to Todai’s, which is a Chinese and sushi place at the Marq*Q Plaza at I-10 and Silber. I had a hankering for sushi, and I figured it was the one place where everyone could agree on. Unfortunately, the CFO didn’t show up and Mike (my IT coworker) got caught in a project that he was given literally at the last minute, so it was just four of us. Still, I enjoyed myself.

As for presents, I got from my parents this morning:

  • Audio by Blue Man Group on CD
  • Batman: The Animated Series volume 1 on DVD
  • Battlestar Galactica season one on DVD
  • A Logitech Cordless Desktop MX5000 Laser

I still need to import the BMG CD into my Powerbook’s iTunes and get it replicated over to my main PC and my iPod. I did get the Logitech Cordless Desktop operational; that took a bit of doing, as the software CD-ROM was missing from the box. I did manage to locate the drivers on their FTP server, after unsuccessfully trying to get them on their website. It’s working nice right now, as the mouse is more responsive than my old one, and the keyboard is working fine. The LCD display on the keyboard’s neat, as it displays information from the system. Right now it’s showing info about the track currently playing in iTunes… heh.

All in all, though, it was a great birthday, and I’m grateful for everything I’ve gotten. :-)

Uhm… oops?

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

Okay, I damn near had a panic attack this afternoon because I thought someone was attacking the main darquecathedral.org server.

Earlier today Slashdot had posted a story about Lupper.Worm making its way around the net. I wasn’t worried, as my webserver’s installs of Apache and PHP are relatively up-to-date. One of its features was that it copied a program to the /tmp folder and ran it under the username Apache runs under. Anyway, I was talking to CCShadow about it and happened to do a check on /tmp. To my shock, there was a whole shitload of files starting with “sess_” in the /tmp directory owned by the Apache user.

“What the hell???” I thought.

So, what I did was go to the access log, and checked. Sure enough, throughout today there had been a few attempts to make the server download and run a file that started with sess_ in the logs. Problem was… it showed that the requests were for files that didn’t exist on my server. So, I deleted the files. They reappeared… with no trace in the logs.

Curious, I downloaded the sess_ file shown in the logs. Sure enough, it was a Perl script that acted as a zombie IRC bot used for attacking computers. However… I couldn’t see how the files were being run. Every time I deleted the files they reappeared (albeit at zero size). I even rebooted the machine to no avail.

I even went as far as to install a new module into Apache called mod_security. No go. The files kept appearing, with no trace in the audit logs. I tried replicating the command from Safari on my Powerbook, and it got blocked (and appeared in the audit logs). I was stumped.

Then something worried me even more. One of the sess_ files that had appeared wasn’t a script file. It was private mailbox information for someone who uses the webmail on my server. At this point I was even more into a WTF mode.

Finally, I was talking to Sinc and Kanan about it on #Vampire, and Kanan pointed out the obvious: the sess_ files I had been seeing were normal cache files used by PHP. There was no compromise on my system. I tested, and he was right.

Gods, I felt like a fucking dumbass.

On the bright side, I did get mod_security tested and in place on the darquecathedral.org server, and I’ll end up implementing it on the MK Online server as soon as we get it nice and tested. Still… tonight was not one of my shining moments. *sigh*

Tests and profits…

D'Arque Bishop

Well, it looks like email posting is fixed on the site. I ran a couple of test posts this morning using my Blackberry, and the new post-by-email functionality is working. The only thing that annoys me is the fact that the new software will only post under the Administrator account by default, and will not allow you to post from individual usernames. I suppose that can be fixed later on down the road, however. For now, I’m just glad it’s working properly.

I did a bit better than usual at poker last night; I walked away $121 richer as a result. Unfortunately, I also didn’t get home until 1 AM, which means I didn’t get much sleep last night. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have a barber’s appointment tomorrow, I’d be looking forward to sleeping in. *sigh*

Anyway, enough rambling here… I need to take a fileserver to the datacenter. Fun fun…

Not quite news of the day… more it’s news to me.

D'Arque Bishop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lazzo

Mike Lazzo is the head of comedy programming at Williams Street Studios, the company that makes the Toonami, Miguzi, and Adult Swim programming blocks on Cartoon Network. Lazzo started out running Cartoon Network when it was simply a place to show cartoons from the Hanna-Barbera library, after Turner purchased it. In 1996 when Turner and Time-Warner merged he lost control of Cartoon Network and moved over to working for Williams Street. He is commonly and usually incorrectly credited as the creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Stroker and Hoop, 12 oz. Mouse, and Squidbillies, among others. However he did help to create the show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Lazzo, along with Cartoon Network Executive Khaki Jones, helped restart Home Movies on Adult Swim after the show had been cancelled on UPN. Because the shows under his control have been so popular, he holds a lot of weight in Adult Swim’s decisions. As a senior vice president of Adult Swim, Mike Lazzo has reportedly generally favored creating or acquiring new comedy shows over creating or acquiring anime-style action cartoons. This has been shown in his refusal to acquire the rights to air Excel Saga and publicly-known hatred of The Big O.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_O

Recently, it has been revealed that the series is in fact unfinished. The production crew wished to create a third season to tie up the loose ends and finish the series, as per an option on the contract between Cartoon Network and Sunrise, but the head of Adult Swim Comedy, Mike Lazzo, supposedly became jealous of Big O’s ratings on Sundays compared to his programs and threatened to quit if Big O was continued. As a result, Cartoon Network demanded they instead create an ambiguous ending to Season 2, refusing to fund a third season.

My respect for Adult Swim has gone down dramatically since reading this. I was one of the ones who loved The Big O, and had wanted to see a third season to clear up what the hell happened in the last episode. *grumblemutter*

Er, oops…

D'Arque Bishop

Those few of you who keep up with my site via RSS might have briefly noticed some weird garbage posts. I apologize for that, as I was testing posting via the Blackberry. I think I straightened out the whole getting it to recognize that it’s me part, but unfortunately the script that actually converts the body of the email to the post doesn’t like anything other than plain text, and despite what I thought earlier, Blackberry devices don’t send in plain text. *sigh*

I just downloaded a plugin for WordPress called “Postie” that should alleviate that problem. I’ll probably end up testing it tomorrow, however; I’ll be leaving for dinner and poker in about ten minutes.

Oh, well… hopefully this new plugin will work out much better for me. :-)

Paul Anderson to direct Castlevania movie…

D'Arque Bishop

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117932196&categoryID=13&cs=1

Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky Pictures has bought the rights to long-running Konami vidgame franchise “Castlevania” and has set helmer Paul W.S. Anderson (“Alien vs. Predator”) to adapt and direct.
Paul and Crystal Sky president Benedict Carver will produce along with Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, who are partnered in Impact Pictures.

Pic will focus on the origins of Dracula and the uprising of the Belmont Clan, a vampire-slaying family who supposedly become humanity’s last hope.

I’m going to give Anderson the benefit of the doubt for now. True, his Alien vs Predator was poorly implemented. However, I liked Event Horizon and Mortal Kombat, and I didn’t think Resident Evil was the steaming pile of dogshit everyone seemed to think it was. It could definitely be worse: Uwe Boll or John Leonetti (the director of Mortal Kombat Annihilation) could be directing it.

Then again, I’m not really rabid about it because I’ve never played any of the Castlevania games. If I get a Nintendo DS, I’ll change my mind, but until then… *shrug*

Hmmm… (testing followup)

D'Arque Bishop

Well, I ended up needing to correct a bug in one of WordPress’s files, but other than that, the post via email thing went off without a hitch. I should say, almost without a hitch; apparently it won’t replicate over to LiveJournal unless I edit and save the post in WordPress itself. Oh, well; when I’m on vacation, those people who want to read my posts will have to just watch the main D’Arque Cathedral site instead of keeping an eye on the LJ friends pages. :-)

Today should be a relatively quiet day all told, up until this evening. It’s poker night with the usual poker crowd, so hopefully I can earn a little extra spending money tonight. :-) As for this weekend, I’ll probably get into Quake 4 and spend some time with it. I’ve played Bloodlines quite a bit over the past couple of days, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s too bad the company who developed it went out of business; I certainly wouldn’t have minded getting an expansion pack for it.

Finally, for your amusement, my new desktop on the main PC. Yes, it’s a Quake 4 wallpaper with a WindowBlinds theme. :-)

Anyway, time for me to check on a few things here…. fun fun.

Testing this thing out…

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

Well, this should be interesting.

This particular post was done via email. Apparently WordPress has the
capability to do posts via email, so I’m giving this a brief try
before I bother implementing it full-time. I have no idea whether or
not this will synch to LiveJournal as well, but if it does, well…
even if I had felt like paying for a full LJ account for this access, I
don’t need to now. Oh, well…

Now I just need to figure out how to post from the Blackberry, and I
should be good to go when on vacations and the like. :-)

^%$#ing assclowns!

D'Arque Bishop

Well, today was going to be a standard day, with not much of note happening… until it was time for us to head back to the office from lunch.

We had decided to hit Zydeco’s (a Cajun cafeteria in the middle of downtown) for lunch. We got the only parking spot available, which was right in the corner of the lot, and went in to eat. When we came out, we got a hell of a shock: some inconsiderate asshole in a red Dodge Ram 1500 had parked perpendicular to Cherry’s Tahoe, not four feet behind it. He had perfectly made a T out of the two vehicles… and as a result, Cherry’s vehicle was trapped.

We went back into Zydeco’s, and Cherry tried to find out whose truck it was. However, nobody owned up to owning it. On the other hand… one of the people waiting in line to pay was a wrecker driver, and he gladly came out after paying to tow it for us. :-) Unfortunately, the way the truck was parked meant that the tow truck couldn’t tow it out. On the other hand, seeing as the parking spot to the left of Cherry’s vehicle was open, Cherry let the tow truck driver drive, and he managed to maneuver it out.

I wish I could say I couldn’t believe someone would be such a fucking asshat, but unfortunately I can all too well. I have an utter lack of faith in humanity in that regard. I guess all I can do now is hope his/her utter selfishness bites him in the ass later down the road. Karma is a harsh mistress…