URL Trick and Too Much Time

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I didn’t think anyone would bother, but someone cared enough to take the time to exploit the SnipSnap referral backlink list that is displayed under each snip. This was done by tweaking a link to this site to add extra markup to the request, creating a referral with additional markup in the URL. When that link was used to request a page from this site, the server read that referral and associated it to the snip to be displayed. “Hacker” tag included:

While the banklinks were interesting, I’ve taken them off until I have the new release in place to tweak a little more to prevent such silliness.

Never trust the user. :-)

Thanksgiving Holiday

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The Thanksgiving holiday started around noon last Wednesday, at which point it was decided no more work was possible for a tired brain, and I was looking forward to some mental recovery.

I spent the afternoon with Sean as he ran some errands before his trip to Hong Kong. He was required to purchase a round-trip ticket, so he’s scheduled to return in a month. However, if he end up with a job there, we’ll have to save some money to visit if we want to see him again. Sean’s Thanksgiving involved 14 or 16 hours on a plane, which has got to be torture, though I’m sure his visit will be worth it.

This year, instead of the typical drive to the Chicago suburbs for Thanksgiving with my mom’s family, we stayed in-town to join Kelly’s parents, and officially began the new tradition of alternating locations. I can’t remember the last time I stayed in town over this holiday, it’s possible I never have — spending time travelling by car is part of Thanksgiving memory. It’s hard to interrupt tradition, and I’d be lying if I said I did not miss the annual trip to visit extended family, but marriage has added more family to St. Louis that I also want to spend time with.

Thanksgiving dinner was of course tasty and filling, and a good time was had, but I was happy to go home with Kelly and relax in our own, less crowded, space.

The remainder of the holiday and weekend we visited The Couch with Final Fantasy X-2, the laptop, two cats, and a few blankets to keep warm. Occasionally we departed for nourishment, but were soon back to continue.

We could have gone outside for get some fresh air and exercise, but not this vacation. This year was for taking advantage of no required activity. Nothing was planned, and we were pretty intent on keeping it that way. Relaxation was the only goal, and the unknown away from The Couch threatened that. I think together we put in a total of 36 hours into FFX2. We’ve both got separate games going on, so while one was using the PS2 the other had the laptop for Internet and GunBound

Before the holiday I had speculated all the things I could accomplish with the Thanksgiving free time: read Quicksilver or Angels & Demons, watch a few movies, exercise (maybe), …sleep… all had low priority next to The Couch’s offerings.

Maybe I’ll do that stuff while we’re in town over the Christmas holiday. Hopefully I’ll have reset my sleep schedule before then so I can get some work done in the meantime.

Laptops are bad for your posture.

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A lazy post…

I’m currently sprawled sideways across the couch, propped up with my right elbow, with my hands landing on my laptop. For as awkward my position is, one that’s not exactly comfortable, I’m not compelled to move. I have one cat (Dexter) warming my feet, the other (Muka) sleeping against my leg. I’ve jacked the laptop to the receiver to listen for some Internet Radio over the stereo in the back room, which I find funny since I’m now wired to the stereo, but wireless for Internet. The bandwidth is shared with a few downloads trying to acquire the last week’s Angel episode we missed, and we’d like to catch up before we watch tomorrow’s. Up until a few minutes ago, I’ve been pretty productive testing some exception handling I’ve updated in a project for work. With that out of the way, the only things binding me to the couch still are the cats comfort and lack of motivation to do anything the Internet doesn’t offer.

Yesterday, I forgot to eat dinner, and if Kelly hadn’t reminded me to eat earlier, I might still be hungry now, and have a good reason to get up. But I don’t. I could still be here tomorrow when I wake up. And now Dexter has positioned himself across my arm, making typing more difficult, so I’m going to stop this drivel here.

I’d be so productive if there were no games.

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My current addiction is SSX3, but I have a habit of returning to older game styles that have proven more addictive.

It started with Scorched Earth, “The Mother of All Games”. Many cold nights were spent shivering in the basement, playing this tank shooter.

An OpenGL remake exists as Scorched 3D, which added a 3D perspective to the game and network play.

I recently found another clone called GunBound that looks very promising. It’s taken the simple shooter’s gameplay to a whole new level online. I’d love to tell you more, but the hefty download is taking a while, likely due to the extensive graphics used throughout the game.

And then there’s the fact that I’m supposed to be working…

Near-Earth Objects

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We’ve got an asteroid orbiting our sun, passing our planets closely enough to be a little unsettling. Last night it was visible in the sky, tonight it will be even closer.

Hermes is fast approaching Earth, and on Nov. 4th it will pass by our planet 18 times farther away than the moon. Already the asteroid is about as bright as a 13th magnitude star — an easy target for 8-inch telescopes equipped with CCD cameras. Where should you point your ‘scope? Consult the JPL Ephemeris for details.

Hermes approaches Earth’s orbit twice every 777 days. Usually our planet is far away when the orbit crossing happens, but in 1937, 1942, 1954, 1974 and 1986, Hermes came harrowingly close to Earth itself. We know about most of these encounters only because Lowell Observatory astronomer Brian Skiff re-discovered Hermes… on Oct. 15, 2003.

Hermes asteroid at RedNova.

Simulate the Hermes asteroid Orbit

Providing I can remember this time, I’d like to look for it tonight, but unfortunately, the forecast isn’t promising.

Does President Bush make you feel more safe?

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The following are a few gems from an article on President Bush’s campaign for 2004…

Defending foreign policy:

“the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership”

On raising money:

“Right now, I’m – yes, no question, I’m going out to our friends and supporters and saying, ‘Would you mind contributing to the campaign for the year ’04?”‘ he said. “To me, there’s a difference between that and actually engaging potential opponents in a public discourse in a debate. … In terms of the balloon drops and all that business, it will be a little while for me to be catching the confetti, as they say.”

Regarding campaigning during a struggling occupation of Iraq:

Bush said he isn’t worried that Americans’ patience would run out as the death toll ticks upward, even if it continues during the election year.

“They tend to be able to differentiate between politics and reality,” he said. “There’s no question politics can – will – create … a lot of noise and a lot of balloon drops and a lot of hot air. I’ll probably be right in the mix of it, by the way.”