Worcestershire NHS peddles filth to kiddies

The web dev guy chose good file names. Hmm perhaps I should go and double check to see if I changed the file names of images of people I didn't like on my company website to something other than PersonWhoExcessivelySelfStimulates.jpg

News for all farmers

In the UK farmers are havening difficulty keeping up with foreign competition. Partly due to our high living costs. Well in America there seems to be a solution. Rather than going for cash crops that don't sell for a lot of money why not go for one that does.

Added security

No this isn't an invitation to attempt to attack the site of the company I work for (although if you find any vulnerabilities let me know NICELY!). I used the information in this article Writing Secure PHP to help me fix any bugs. Most of the fixes I did weren't major security issues but It was good to double check and I ended up making some things fail a little more pleasantly so that if someone tries to look for a page that isn't there they get a neat message rather than a PHP "file not found" or blank page.

Contact details

Just a quick request to all. Can you send me your contact details so I can update my address book. I'm aware that I'm behind with most people. If you don't have my details then you can use the contact form on my website: www.david-halliday.co.uk

Easy mistake... big problem... Linux to the rescue

I'm not sure if this is a mistake I should admit to but...

For work I realized we were dangerously low on hard disk space. After thinking about it and discussing the problem with others I decided that a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system would be best for us. I went looking and found out that Buffalo do a device which is fitted with 1 TB of hard disk space which you can use RAID5 with, "Perfect" I thought. It will hold the data and just slot into out system without hassle and minimum extra work for me.

I went and got a quote for the device, got authorization from the powers that be at work and in two days had a new toy to play with.

While setting up the hardware I found that it didn't integrate with my works Active Directory (Windows user management for the sake of a simple description). I had ordered a Terabyte Network Attached Storage - 1.0 TB. What I needed was a TeraStation Pro Network Attached Storage - 1.0 TB. Bugger!

I'd opened the box and started playing with it before I realized that I had ordered the wrong thing. The supplier can't resel the item opened so I'm stuck with it! Fortunatly Linux has saved my life. Sadly if I had known that this was going to end as a Linux hacking exercise I would have just bought the components and done it entirely as a Linux hacking exercise... far more time consuming but more fun. Only other problem is that at this time of year I'm tired and grumpy and just want to sleep

Some hours fiddling, hacking and configuring later and:

the NAS is beautifully hosted by my linux box using the AD user and group names to control who can use what. Saved my skin!

I have documented this on my site under my Linux section with the title Samba file shares to ADS users.

Now I'm going to get back to my 1337 |-|4X0r silly celebration dance (I'm sure its a funny sight to behold) as I feel on top of the world, tart up my documentation and configure the shares.

12 Days of Chavmas

On the 1st day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, a pikey in Burberry.

On the 2nd day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 3nd day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 4th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 5th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 6th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 7th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 8th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, eight midriffes showing, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 9th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, nine ladies drinking, eight midriffes showing, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 10th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, ten lads joy-riding, nine ladies drinking, eight midriffes showing, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 11th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, eleven prammers pushing, ten lads joy-riding, nine ladies drinking, eight midriffes showing, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

On the 12th day of Chavmas my true love sent to me, twelve chavvers chavving, eleven prammers pushing, ten lads joy-riding, nine ladies drinking, eight midriffes showing, seven scallies stealing, six teens a-laying, fiiiveee gooolldd riinngggs, four stolen phones, three navel studs, two tracksuit tops and a pikey in Burberry.

Laptop gone bye bye :(

My HP nx5000 which worked well and served me for just under 3 years decided to dye. I turned it on, the fan whirred then [clunk] it was off again. I tried again and again but with the same results. Can someone get me a new one? I am stuck with a spare one at work which is a little out of date and heavy :(

Bogus anti-spyware firm fined $1m

At last someone has done something about the scammers.

I'm tired of sorting out peoplels computers after they went to a site and they clicked on the box that appeared saying "You have spyware, install our software to remove it". Exploiting
Computer
User
Non
Technicals
is annoying for both them and I and is a depraved con game.

M$ Vista and other musings

The main inspiration for this post is prompted by one of many articles I have looked at on the subject of Windows Vista. The article in questionIs it worth it to say hasta la Vista to XP? Says the same thing as many others.

• Vista is over priced
• Do we need the extra bells and whistles?
• Microsoft once again is swapping everything around... again!
• More DRM (Digital Restrictions Management)/(Digital Rights Management)
• Many more issues

I'm not going to buy a copy. I'm probably going to get one eventually for work but I'm in no hurry. I'm going to keep with Ubuntu at home and on as many work machines as I can get away with.

I have a copy of XP for when I need it (mostly for work related stuff) which I hope will be sufficient. Oh and while I'm at it I'll mention Of Mice, Men and Microsoft An article that is relevant as much now as it was in May 2003.

Other things I have been up to lately (I can't believe its only a month since my last post) include (in no particular order)[once i check the HTML for Definition lists:

Blacksnotlings wedding

I was a Best man (well a reasonable one) at my good friend Andrews wedding.

Work work and more work

I have been going mad making handouts (which will go on my website) for teaching which has taken up some time.
I organized and sorted out my new IT suite for an open day at the college where I work.
Preparation for Christmas has been given some (but not enough) thought.

Updating my website

I've added photos and content (with some corrections) to my website

And more

I've just lost the inclination to type more now.

I'd like to plug Planet Rock which I have on at the moment.