Thursday, October 31, 2002
w00t! as they say.....
I have learnt a bit about php and sql - enough to know it hurts - but then again it has been a while since I have had to hand code anything so I had forgotten the sublime joy which is searching for the wayward ; or missing > - not that anything tells me that - and of course the joyful "parse error" is wonderfully ambiguous whilst just tempting enough to have me spend 20 minutes staring at the code before deleting it and starting all over again and this time finding it works. Anyway - now you can comment on my comments - if you want to - and if you don;t well, that won't reduce the pleasure one little bit [but I hope you do!!!]
Coming soon In Blogg Comments Version 2: this page will show the current comment count - cookies to remember your details - privacy statement to make us all feel very mature ;)
I have just finished the last of the marking I have to do [I still have reports to write] and thought I would invest an hour into creating my own blogg comments database idea and see if I could work out why I kept getting no results from my database searches. Well, today it worked - what has changed - nothing, as far as I know - all the files are the same, the php script, the Database, none of it has been touched my me - and yet today it all works.
Oh well I should be thankful, and I am, so that I can now continue on my merry way creating the blogger comments database thingy and dazzling myself and you 10.1 humble readers with not just my usual wit and charm but also my towering intellect. :P
Yes, towering.
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
While I am doing that may I recommend this and maybe even this.
Apparently I have to go to work in about 7 hours so I had better say Goodnight.
"goodnight"
Monday, October 28, 2002
Not soon enough for me though.
I was thinking about the oil thing again - and still feel it is not the real story here at all. So I thought - ok - the article linked above says the war could cost $100-$200 billion - I check the CIA world fact book and it rekons the US defence spending for FY99 would be $280billion [3% of GDP]. So maybe this year it would have been $300 to $400 billion so $200 billion extra is significant - although not for a country the size of the US.
google then helped me find info on US Oil Imports [pdf] which priced them at 86.9 Billion 1992 US$ for August 2002. So if this is for oil - and control of the price and dropping it to $13 by destroying the power of OPEC - then the plan goes we fight a war for $200 billion plus deaths of US Soldiers, possible Israeli deportation of palestinians or invasion, possible retaliation by Arab nations against any Isreali moves, all the negative publicity which the action of US Soldiers will produce to save $40-$100 billion dollars of oil import costs per month. AFTER the war has been won, and assuming the US gain control of Iraq in such a way to be able to flood the market and drop the price on oil.
Economically it makes a bit of sense. Although I would have thought investing in breaking the dependancy on oil would make more sense, help the environment and mean that your young people don't have to die - but then the oil companies are powerful creatures who would not be glad to see the loss of revenue.
But considering all the other side effects, I just can not see how invading Iraq for oil makes any sense. While invading to reassert US imperialism in the region and to bow to Israeli pressure to further their own ends does make sense and I don't buy the nuclear threat, although I am concerned about nuclear terrorism.
So what do I think - I think we don't really know what is going on, that Bush has let the pressure groups push the US into a corner from which they might have no choice but to shot their way out of, that this is more about Israel and old advisors finishing off a job Bush snr wouldn't let them finish, that a lot of people are going to die, that the whole middle east could blow up and that more terrorism will spread around the world.
And - that in the end - there is nothing worth killing someone over, that God can turn the sins of man to some goodness, and that He died for us and although it doesn't seem like it, He does know what He is doing and what is going on.
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Saturday, October 26, 2002
Friday, October 25, 2002
Thursday, October 24, 2002
May I just add that I really am not into this to steal web access or corporate secrets or trash networks - I am just curious and had the spare cash to get a wireless card for the work laptop. Scanning for networks is no different to walking by a house and noticing the door is open - if you head into the house, THAT is when you start breaking the law.
I am not even keen on scanning the network to "just see what's on it" or to try and use a printer to print a message that informs the company of their insecurities. No I have enjoyed driving around picking up networks and working out where they may be - and of course, thanks to praetor, I am enjoying the freedom of using the laptop anywhere around the house.
Oh, and I guess you would have worked it out by now, but the new idea is to have the ability to post comments related to the blogg entries - I am trying to work all this out myself - which means it might take a while to get it in place - especially when the database I have set up to do the comments is NOT working at all like the one I set up for the LinkDB - although I am learning a heap about PHP and SQL - which is very interesting - and I am even beginning to understand a little about how it works :) when it does work that is .... I have just about worked out the logic of how to work it, coding it is the next step.
And for those long term readers - you may recall that in may I spent many a weekend at work trying to get the new servers to work - with no success - well I had brainwave last nightand now have worked out a bit of how it works - enough to be able to set the servers up at last!
Sunday, October 20, 2002
- Recent floods and landslides have killed over 300 people and made over 700 families homeless.
- In the first two [emphasis mine] attacks as the monsoon ends, Maoist rebels have killed over 200 policemen and soldiers.
Please pray for the people of Tibet as they struggle with the rebels and natural disaster.
1] HSC starts [end of High Schooling exams in Australia] tomorrow: to all those students I wish you well - once the first one is over it is much better - remember that God is in control and that no matter what happens, your life is being planned and watched over by God who loves you so much that he would die for you.
2] A note of rememberance for all those people who died in the Bali Bombing - but also for everyone around the world who is dying as a result of the sinful nature of the people who are in this world. There is hope and a chance to understand what is going on - but it takes the faith to trust the God who made us and keeps us going, and who died for us so we can know him personally.
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
This assumes that the US action does not lead to a complete and utter destablisation of the whole region which will actually increase oil prices - if not cut off all the oil supplies in the region.
At the moment I am taking the stated reasons for the US actions as the real reasons - at the moment I am not convinced that oil is the final motive - although I did read a pravda article which puts the case in some detail. The translation made it hard for me to get the full idea of what they were saying - other than that oil is behind all this.
They seemed to be saying that the US wants to open up the Iraq oil fields to drive down the price of oil - stuffing up the OPEC countries once and for all, and doing it in a way which ensures that the US controls that oil though.
I don't know, on the one hand I can see the logic in all that, and I am not completely naive - well not completely - so I certainly don't discount it. But then again, OPEC, is notorious for being unable to working together, over selling their quotas. So I guess I pay that the oil factor is important.
In the end, I don't support war on Iraq.
I am sad to say that terrorists in Australia have attacked a Muslim family in the west of Sydney - but I also know that the human heart is evil above all things, and that God has clearly warned us that things will keep on getting worse as time goes on.
There is no hope in this world - it is in Jesus and a faith in Him which offers real hope and an undestanding of the world and what is going on.
Monday, October 14, 2002
Saturday, October 12, 2002
This represents a fundamental change in the way evil is dealt with, instead of waiting for it to strike, the US is planning to attack it before it can act. Of course Sadaam has acted in the past so perhaps that does justify the action. But then then the US has helped Sadaam as well and so they are accessories to the acts and thus guilty in part as well.
The final act of hypocrisy on the part of the US is to say that by the UN not acting on Sadaam then the UN is in danger of becoming irrelevant. This is the same country which has ignored many a UN initiative, not paid it's dues, declared it's troops beyond the scope of the International Court of Justice and so on - the only way the UN can ensure it continues to be relevant is if the US stops ignoring it rather than expecting that it becomes a forum where the whole world agrees with everything the US wants.
The US has also begun to publicly discuss what happens after an invasion.
Thursday, October 10, 2002
With only 3 to 6 weeks before the US begins their compaign against Iraq - it was only last night that I heard a UK Public Servant stating that they and the US had created Sadaam and that, if no other reason, was why they need to go in and remove him.
This was said whilst reassuring Iran that they were not next on the list. I have already thought that it was foolish of the US not to acknowledge their culpability in the acts of Sadaam Hussein. In fact to my mind that is possibly the only reason that the US could offer to justify their decision to invade - the US has supplied arms and equipment to Iraq and stood silently by when the Iraqi's used chemical weapons.
Rather than taking the high moral ground - after all the US is the only country in the world which has used Nuclear Weapons, twice at that - the US should be honest and offer the world that it is willing to sacrifice it's people to clean up the mess that previous US governments have made.
At 11 after I had had a shower and wandered out for a coffee - surprise surprise Praetor was over to help to. I just grunted, cos I felt crap still. Had got a coffee going and started getting the red ford ready to move. Anyways - it started first go, Ford's are GREAT cars. I felt better after that, cos it meant that it would be very easy to move it down the street.
So we got Big Red all set for removal - swapped the tyres and rims, got the starter motor and console and a few other bits. Rung up Pete and he arranged for it to be taken away Thursday :) Thanks Noble One [Praetor had to go to work after it started]
And Happy Birthday to Kylie - she whose selfless service inspired Kylie Kam. It was Oct 9th in fact.
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Started working on the wardriving site today - just a bit of a start - so still coming soon - oh and for those who are wondering why bungie cam is now filling the fourth cam spot it's cos I love bungie - myth got me hooked on them and I bought the xbox really just to play Halo [which they made] - so of course when I remembered they had a webcam it was only natural to add them to the front page.
Monday, October 07, 2002
Sunday, October 06, 2002
Anyway the Final starts soon so I say goodbye - Go Roosters !!!!
Right now, well in a few moments, we [me, steve, kylie and thommo] will all get to it and do some tidying up - which I don't really understand cos by the time everyone leaves we'll be doing the cleaning all over again - probably even more :) - but anyway, that's just the way it goes. I will probably set up /cam2 to overlook the BBQ as well as kylie kam in the usual place.
Now, since the post of 4/10 things haven't been good on the wireless front - in fact the wireless front is no more. I shutdown the box to find out the problem with the remote admin thingy and fixed that. I then restarted the machine and NO WIRELESS NETWORK. Argghhhhhhh. So I spent until 6am on the 5th trying to get it working again and then until 2am this morning - with no success. Praetor helped a bit but didn't really have any other ideas. So I am not a very happy camper - to have been so close and now to have nothing - not happy at all.
I am feeling a new Inside Out coming on .. maybe in a few days.
Friday, October 04, 2002
Update: well it worked - I plugged the box in without monitor or keyboard, turned it on and it all still works - well done Praetor. Well it all works except the remote admin thingy - but I am happy with what we got for now.
Thursday, October 03, 2002
Speaking of the cams - look some of you 10.1 people a day who visit me click on the cam buttons which send me a message - now if you don't fill in the name and comment section all I get is your ip address - which is very interesting and all but not very friendly - so why not actually type in a message, hey maybe even your name :)