Referrer Spam Part 2

Not long back the stats file for my domain was attacked by referrer spam and the end result of that was my page rank in Google was lowered and my email filtered out by some organisations. I protected the stats files and created a .htacess file to begin bouncing the referrer spam back.

Anyway, I did a whois lookup for all of the domains responsible for the referrer spam and they all have a single Registrar that is
Go Daddy Software Inc and the registrant is Domains By Proxy, Inc.

The individual that owns the Go Daddy Inc company is Bob Parsons. I cannot help but think of Bob from Bob's Country Bunker in the Blues Brothers movie. He has a blog at www.bobparsons.com. His blog's banner features a picture of him (the lights are on but no one is at home?), a big motorbike, girls in tank tops, a 4WD and, you guessed it, the star spangled banner. Get the idea?

Domains By Proxy Inc protects the identity of the real owners of the domains. When you visit their web site there are two links on the home page as follows: "If You Are Law Enforcement ~ Click Here" and the other is "For our subpoena policies click here". It makes you wonder where one should draw the line when it comes to privacy and the rights of the individual. Are they really protecting the privacy of individuals and families or are they actually providing a cover for the owners of web sites that represent the ugly side of the Internet?

Technology tips for teachers and just about anyone...

I have wanted to do this for some time and at last my little project has a beginning. I have created technology tip sheets in the past and with this project I plan to bring them altogether in a single place. Anyway, the first few tips deal with finding files, searching the Internet and creating slideshows. Explore the tips here.

Swicki

Read about Swickis today in the Sydney Morning Herald in an excellent article by Brad Howarth. In the article he made a reference to a relatively new technology called Swickis ~ a combination of a wiki and a search engine. I added one to my web site and I shall see how it works out. Another tool for Web 2.0.

Building the new web site

My web site has recently undergone a major revision. I had been constructing the revised web site using Apple's iWeb software application however the actual web pages took an eternity to download. They looked absolutely brilliant but each page element did take an age to download. I tried two different web servers just to check. One in Hong Kong and the other in Melbourne. Each web page looked messy as it downloaded as well. It was a real pity.

I borrowed the style of the iWeb "Gazette" template and built this using Macromedia Dreamweaver and simple html. Nested tables. I did not wish to play around with style sheets too much at this point. Maybe later. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to create all of the photo gallery pages. I love the way you can manage sites in Dreamweaver and make site wide changes. Excellent!

New web site up and running

The new web site has been uploaded. I also updated the Google sitemap. I need to fine tune it all a little. There is some redundancy in the code and I will rename some of the smaller images that act as spacers and background pictures so they download first. I will reduce the file size of some of the images too. So far, so good.

Modified the template

Modified the template to look a little more like the new site which I may upload this Saturday. I was creating the web site using iWeb but the downloads were far too slow. I am doing it all in Dreamweaver. The new home page will be up soon.

I was hoping to replicate the new site on this blog template but that was taking up too much time. I should get someone else to do that coding.

Cheers

John

iWeb experiment

Well, I thought i would give iWeb a go but I have changed my mind. The site created by iWeb takes ages to download. An equivelant looking site created in dreamweaver downloads much more quickly.

I am going to see if I can create a blogger template that looks something like the new web site. The old home page is going to stay the same for a while longer.

Referrer Spam

My home page has been plagued by referrer spam. I have done research on the net and came up with a few sites that provided useful ideas:

Referrer spam
Using .htaccess to block referrer spam
How to combat referrer spam
htaccess tutorial

Following some research and advice from the excellent support of my hosting provider I have done the following.

1. Protected the stats files generated by my hosting provider for each domain and sub domain. The referrer spam would be listed on those files. Now they cannot be viewed or accessed unless authorised. They are invisible to the web so to speak.
2. I know this is redundant but I also created a robots.txt file for each domain and sub domain so that access to the stats directory was denied to any robot.
2. Created htaccess files for each domain and sub domain. These list the urls of the sites that I wish to deny access. This is a tedious process. I have updated these htaccess files a few times. I suspect it will take some time to settle down.
3. I updated my sitemaps.xml file and resubmitted to Google so it no longer includes the references to the stats files.

The htaccess code advised by my provider looks like this:

setenvifnocase Referer "^http://(www\.)?unwantedreferrer.com" spam_ref=1


Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=spam_ref


I protected the htaccess file by setting permissions for the to 644 or RW-R--R--.

The sources of the spam are the usual suspects (porn, medicines, finance, etc). They are using sites to promote themselves. It will add unwanted traffic to your site and in fact your site could be filtered or blocked by educational institutions if the words used in the urls are suspect.

Google Sitemaps

I have just started using Google Sitemaps and even after a couple of days the data I can learn about how people access my pages is interesting. You can learn where your pages rank collectively and individually.

Overall my pages rank low. My web site is not friendly and navigation is poor. I always understood that but was simply too lazy to do anythong about it. Pages I had created for others were always better designed. Isn't that always the way?

But there are some pages within my site that always rank first if you do a Google search on the topic. They include, among others, Pulau Sejahat and TAKRL. You do not know what TAKRL is?!

Added my web site to Google SiteMaps

I have linked my web site to Google SiteMaps. I followed their instructions and added some python and xml scripts to my web site. The great people that host my web site, ICDSoft, also provided real time assistance with the creation of a php script and a cron job that would regularly update my sitemap file. Excellent service from ICDSoft!

Google Mars and Moon

Have you used Google Earth? It is a great tool for use in Geography and History lessons. have you checked out Google Mars? It is quite interesting to check out the massive volcanoes and valleys on the planet. The detail revealed at Google Moon is also amazing. You can zoom down to the landing sites of the Apollo missions!

Blogger widget is handy

I used the Blogger widget to make this post. It is very handy indeed. It allows me to choose between blogs as well. I guess there is no excuse now. If an idea springs to mind then I better blog it.

Back in Singapore conducting educational technology workshops

I am back in Singapore again to conduct another exciting round of educational technology workshops. This time the focus is upon digital still, digital video and podcasting technologies. There are photographs in the photoblog. The workshops are fully subscribed and I am having a busy yet fulfilling time at the Centre for Educational Development, NTU. Some of the participants are pictured below.



The flight on Singapore Airlines last Saturday was excellent. I must have been sick in the head to resort to British Airways for the previous excursion to and from Singapore. I have been to a Me@n meeting with local Macintosh users. It was great to meet up with Siva and the gang. I have been quite busy working on and preparing for the workshops. I did manage to buy three CDs: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, The Velvet Underground and The Verve.

No freedom of choice with Windows XP SP2 update

"Windows XP systems configured to auto update will be unable to prevent the downloading of service pack 2 from April 12 onwards, according to information available from Microsoft" (Sydney Morning Herald, February 23rd). Microsoft will force users of Windows XP to update their operating system. They will have no choice and will be unable to "prevent the change". This company is an example of megalomania. Consumers forced to accept change. No choice. This is unbelievable. Time to change to another operating system. Get a Mac or switch to Linux. More.

Safari does not force refresh the proxy

Safari presented a mystery to me today. Look at my two emails to Dave, David, Siva and Phil and the explanation below:

"Dear all,

How are you all? Safari, Firefox and caches, etc. I have reset Safari, emptied the caches for both and even forcibly emptied the caches from the library. But tell me why... If I type "www.larkin.net.au" into the location bar I get a completely different (updated) page to the one I get when I type "www.larkin.net.au/index.html". I get the latest page when I add index.html. But, with respect to other pages I get the older page when I add "index.html" to the url in the address bar. Is Safari over caching? Is it the proxy server? Is it safari's memory? What is it? I am mystified. Does not happen in IE or on a PC. Any ideas?
Cheers
John"

**************************
"Dear all,

Further on this... Running Cocktail, etc, makes no difference. Is the file stored in RAM? Restarting the machine made no difference. If one adds index.html to the url you get a different page. Why?
Cheers
John"

**************************
Dave's informative reply:

"Hi Guys,
Unfortunately Safari is unable to force refresh a proxy server -- It has no 'super refresh' (option-refresh) like most other browsers. I have flagged this with some Apple Developers who claimed it would be looked at with the last Safari update, but I don't think it is resolved yet.
Actually Windows IE can be just as bad as Mac IE (which is a dead product). On Windows IE, you hold the shift key while clicking refresh to force the proxy to reload. Other variables include the type of proxy server too. Almost all Mac browsers other than Safari will super refresh or the refresh itself forced the proxy -- but still not Safari.
So until Apple do fix this, we really need a second browser to occasionally use as needed. Oh, in a classroom where kids publish web pages, only ONE computer is needed to 'force the refresh' (of the server). Once the server has 'got' the new page, others will get the same. Adding .html can be a once off request, but does NOT FIX the problem.
Regards..David"
**************************
and Siva's nice addendum!

"Hey Johhny boy,
What David has written sounds right. I find that in 40% of the time, I may have to type ctrl-R furiously a few times before I see a refresh. 5% of the time, it never seems to change and I switch over to Firefox or Camino. They are more responsive and usually a better idea to use when you are doing this a lot. Suspect besides Safari's inabilities, the server or its distance may be a factor because on most days, its magnificent and all's well. It's a much better idea to view changes locally until 100% satisfied before upload the pages - somehow I never do this.
Cheerio!
Siva"

Clicking on the "Next Blog" button #2

Before I had came across the blog referred to below I had a surprising experience. The first blog that surfaced after clicking the "Next Blog" button was this one: "The Angry Arab News Service"



The next blog that turned up after clicking the "Next Button" was this: "Love One Another".



How is that for an interesting juxtaposition?

Clicking on the "Next Blog" button #1

I just randomly came across this blog after clicking the "Next Blog" button. It is authored by a person named Peter Faris. He indicates he is "Proud to be Australian" and that his blog contains politically incorrect views. At least he is up front. I do not always have the guts to be as open as he is in his blog.

I disagree with most but agree with some of the stuff he publishes. Unlike Peter I do find it hard to be a "proud Australian" at times. Ever since Pauline Hanson made her maiden speech in parliament and the actions of the Liberal Party in supporting Bush, establishing detention centres, etc it has been somewhat embarrassing to be an Australian.

When travelling and also working overseas, being an Australian wasn't such a big issue. You were just an Australian. That was fine. But since 1996 it has perceptibly changed. People question me about Hanson, Howard and the like and I have to answer those questions. It is uncomfortable and it makes me feel frustrated. I apologise for the actions of the Hansons and the Howards and reassure my inquisitor that not all Australians have such narrow minded views although I think now I may be wrong there having returned to this country after a stint overseas.

Anyway, back to Peter Faris' blog. He writes about the left and the right and terrorists and so on. It made me think. So I wrote this as a comment in his blog:

"What's the point of being left or right? What's the point of being patriotic or not? Being left is a problem. Being right is a problem. Patriotism in any form is a problem. Life everywhere would be pleasant if patriotism and politics didn't interfere in our daily lives. Patriotism is becoming jingoism in this country.

What difference will being right or being left make when you are dead and buried? Just get on with life. Enjoy a meal, have a drink, go for a walk, paint a picture, listen to some music, read a book. If we continue to worry the way we do we will all go to an early grave, one way or another.

The left and the right in Australia are identical anyway. Go and live in several other countries... in several continents and then you may understand how pointless it really is to unswervingly sit in any camp.

We will all be dead one day anyway. We will all be forgotten soon. Why waste time and energy pontificating the way that you/we do? If you are so committed to your views why don't you join an army and really face up to someone with differing views to your own (or that of the political leaders that sent you).

We live on an insignificant planet surrounded by an infinite number of galaxies and stars and here we are preoccupied with freedom, terrorism, politics and money. What a waste of time and energy!"

Sharing a printer over a WLAN with OSX and XP Part 2

A few entries back I described how a PC laptop running Windows XP was able to access a printer on a wireless LAN. The printer was connected to the WLAN via an Apple Airport Express station. Anyway, the IP address of the Apple Airport Express station would change depending on what we had switched on and off and this was a bugger because I had to reconfigure the relevant TCP-IP port settings on the PC laptop.

I thought there must be another way and I considered making the IP address of the Apple Airport Express station static. A colleague suggested distributing the IP addresses from the modem/router and not from the Airport Extreme Base station.

But, in the end, a wise friend, David, suggested I download Rendezvous for Windows Technology Preview 3. I did and it is sensational!

I downloaded the file on to the PC laptop, installed the software, restarted the machine and then launched the Rendezvous Printer Wizard. In a couple of clicks the printer was located and made the default printer. Brilliant!

Compared to the twenty three steps required to achieve the same thing via Windoze XP what can I say? Thanks David! Thanks Apple! Thanks ZeroConf Working Group!

The ubiquitous iPod

Green iPod, originally uploaded by John Larkin.

My wife, Shao Ping, spotted this advert in a magazine the other day. The iPod looks rather tawdry and lacks the simplicity and purity of the original design.

iPods have become so ubiquitous. Local Honda dealers offer an iPod if you buy a particular vehicle. Even our local butcher has a deal where you can win an iPod. It is an interesting match... get a juicy red beef steak and an iPod mini to boot.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today echoes these sentiments to some extent. Eddie Perfect, a Melbourne-based composer, actor and comedian, writes "However, my disappointment at not getting an iPod has since turned into cynicism. I now have an "issue" with the lovable iPod. It seems to me that as the technology to store more music on ever-smaller devices grows, the diversity and range of music available to us is shrinking. The irony of technology is that we now have musical audio space equivalent to all the shelving in the New York State Library, yet we have the cultural capacity to fill it only with Ralph magazines."

Perfect, goes on to say that "if you picked up someone else's iPod, you'd discover the painful truth: people are scarily the same, and growing more alike. I'm sure all of us would like to believe we're individuals, but the music marketing machine ensures that most of the kids on the street don't listen outside the box. It would be foolish to underestimate the extent to which the major recorded music corporations dictate and control our tastes." So we are enamoured by the technology but the music is still coming off second best. Money needs to be spent on encouraging diversity and originality in music.

It seems the "i" in iPod no longer relates to Internet, information technology or the like. The "i" in iPod now relates to that vain, mindless sensibility that broadcasts, "Look at me, I have an iPod".

On a different, yet related wavelength, I have had these completely irrational thoughts regarding iPod ownership of late. I see some individuals with iPods and I think to myself, what a waste. What will they listen to? Will they get maximum use out of the device? It is probably just jealousy masked as snobbery to be honest. I secured the original 1st generation 5 gig iPod three years ago. Still works and is chock a block with songs that could last 2.8 days non stop. Surely that makes me cooler than an iPod-mini toting teenager?

The building blocks

The building blocks, originally uploaded by John Larkin.

These are two pictures of some chromosomes. On the left they are carefully ordered and numbered. The clever ones amongst you will be able to figure out the gender of the patient. On the right they are straight out of the nucleus of the cell. The interesting thing about these chromosomes is that they are actually mine.