Talking to the Digital Connectors about blogging

I was invited to the Saint Monica Teen Center to speak tonight on the topic of blogging to the kids involved with Raleigh’s Digital Connectors. I’d been looking forward to this talk for over a week as I love speaking to kids about technology.

Not having a real outline on what I should discuss, I began by explaining how I got into blogging, what keeps me going, and then took questions about some of the stranger happenings that I’ve experienced because of my blog. After nearly ten years of blogging, I’ve gained quite a few of these “strange experiences” and my biggest problem tonight was deciding which ones I wanted to share!
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BackWPup WordPress vulnerability

Looking over my logfiles tonight, I noticed a host trying to access a file I don’t have, backwpup.php.

46.4.202.87 – – [31/Mar/2011:19:00:03 -0400] “HEAD /wp-content/plugins/backwpup/backwpup.php HTTP/1.1” 403 – “-” “Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)”

It turns out this is a WordPress plugin that has a bug which lets an attacker traverse the file system. In other words, an attacker could then view any file on the server that’s accessible to the webserver process.

I hadn’t seen it before but it hasn’t been out too long. I don’t use that particular plugin but those who do should be aware.

Google still looking to spread Google Fiber

It looks like all hope is not lost on Google Fiber coming to Raleigh (or Durham, or any of the other dozens of NC cities hoping to get it). Tanner points to this update from the announcement on Google’s blog:

Update 4:15PM: We’ve heard from some communities that they’re disappointed not to have been selected for our initial build. So just to reiterate what I’ve said many times in interviews: we’re so thrilled by the interest we’ve generated—today is the start, not the end the project. And over the coming months, we’ll be talking to other interested cities about the possibility of us bringing ultra high-speed broadband to their communities.

Perhaps there’s hope for high-speed Internet in North Carolina after all?

Cheap Thoughts: kicking it

The meaning of the word “to kick” is ambiguous. Early in its existence it meant “to quit” as in phrases such as “kick the habit,” “kick the bucket.” Yet it is also used to mean “to start something,” as in “kick it.”

Kinda interesting how that happened.

Google Fiber picks Kansas

I was sorry to hear that Google passed on North Carolina for its Google Fiber project. Kansas City, Kansas won out.

I hope it had nothing to do with the animosity our state’s current leadership has shown towards high-speed broadband, but you never know.

After a careful review, today we’re very happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. We’ve signed a development agreement with the city, and we’ll be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community.

via Official Google Blog.

Update 9:26 PM: All hope may not be lost for NC after all.

Make: Online | Circuitry, Anatomy, and Repair Tips for Common CFL Lamps

Here’s a nice guide to repairing CFL bulbs yourself!

I don’t know about you, but I’m so used to the paradigm established by old-style incandescent bulbs that when one of my CFL’s “blows out,” it doesn’t even occur to me that I might be able to repair it in the garage. Or at least, it didn’t until I saw this page from Pavel Ruzicka, which does a good job of explaining the general principles of operation of CFL lamps and gives great details about their most common failure modes. Apparently, replacing a single capacitor will often do the trick. [via Hack a Day]

via Make: Online | Circuitry, Anatomy, and Repair Tips for Common CFL Lamps.

Transaction canceled

I posted about a fake “transaction canceled” email I got but today I experienced a real canceled transaction.

I’ve been looking around for an LG Optimus V phone and thought I’d found the perfect one on Craigslist. It was priced at 60% of what a new phone costs:

VIRGIN MOBILE ANDROID – $120 (RALEIGH)
Date: 2011-03-28, 7:30PM EDT

THIS IS THE LG OPTIMUS V BRAND NEW IN BOX CALL 919-758-xxxx this is a touch screen

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Biting the hand that feeds

I’ve never understood how some people who’ve made their living serving in the military can turn around and proclaim that government is bad. Especially when they continue to enjoy government-paid health care and other benefits.

It makes me glad that I made it out of the military with my ability to think intact.

ACH Payment canceled scam

Got this scam email today. Of course NACHA does not send emails about any transactions, so you can consider this to be fraud.

Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:36:01 +0000
From: risk@nacha.org
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v2.10.03) Personal
Message-ID: <2450512739.Q2NA84TE047826@urzrjfbftr.tlgwdedu.info>
Subject: ACH payment canceled

The ACH transaction (ID: 58051732944390), recently sent from your bank account (by you or any other person), was rejected by the other financial institution.

Please click here to download further information

If you have any questions or comments, contact us at info@nacha.org. Thank you for using http://www.nacha.org.

Jake Barnett, boy genius

Meet Jake Barnett, a 12-year-old math prodigy from Indiana who is already blazing new trails in science.

“We were in the crowd, just sitting, listening to this guy ask the crowd if anyone knew why the moons going around Mars were potato-shaped and not round,” she recalls. “Jacob raised his hand and said, ‘Excuse me, but what are the sizes of the moons around Mars?’ “

The lecturer answered, and “Jacob looked at him and said the gravity of the planet . . . is so large that (the moon’s) gravity would not be able to pull it into a round shape.”

Silence.

“That entire building . . . everyone was just looking at him, like, ‘Who is this 3-year-old?’ “

via Genius at work: 12-year-old is studying at IUPUI | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com.