Hindsight

This is all so very strange, but it happened to me, so for anyone who has had been unable to post while posting to WordPress, read up…

I had an entry that I wrote in Japan in 2002. The post contains the word “selection”. Many, many paragraphs later, the word “from” is also present. Apparently, the way my web host was setup, having these two words in the same document, or post, might be misinterpreted as something of a security breach. At first I thought WordPress might have a maximum character limit to posts. But after breaking down my old post, paragraph by paragraph, it turns out that a word (or rather two words in the right order) caused the glitch…

ModSecurity for Apache checks posts for, among other things, SQL injection.

In my case, having the word “selection” in a post, followed much later by the word “from”, must have looked like SQL to mod_security. I got the “Forbidden” error for posts.php.

Apparently, my server’s installation of mod_security was compiled with the -DDISABLE_HTACCESS_CONFIG switch, so I could disable the checking of posts in a .htaccess file in the wp-admin directory with:

SecFilterScanPOST Off

If you’re an ‘advanced’ user, do the following if you don’t have an .htaccess file in your /wp-admin/ directory:

1. Make a new, plain-text document (with Notepad - NOT with Word or any other word processor) called “.htaccess” (no file extensions or anything) if you don’t already have one in the /wp-admin/ diretory.
2. In the file, be sure to enter the line “SecFilterScanPOST Off”. Save it.
3. Upload the file to your WordPress blog’s “/wp-admin/” directory.

You can now post something like “selection from” without getting the boot from your web server and WordPress.

NOTE: Apparently, having the two words in the Post Title will form a “Forbidden” error as well, so if you do, change the “Post Slug” so that it doesn’t have those words in it. Will they fix this glitch in Version 2.3?

Earlier last week, I noticed that my laptop hard drive wasn’t accessing data as usual. Booting into XP took longer, running programs and accessing data took suspiciously long. Knowing how my hard drive “sounds”, I knew that something was up.

I took the cautious step of copying over all essential files and folders on the laptop over to an external hard drive two evenings ago. Yesterday, while transferring some last not-so-essential files, I got the classic BSOD. Over several reboots I witnessed the laptop crash upon loading into Windows, crashing before the interface even popped up and finally not even loading up at all (”Disk failure error”).

The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite 5105-S701 power laptop. It was purchased in 2002. The laptop had a rough start to begin with: it was purchased off Amazon.com and shipped from California to Japan (I was several months into the JET Programme). When it arrived, the hard drive had problems the first day I ran the laptop; a real downer when first receiving a brand new system. I’m pretty sure the laptop was thrown around hard during shipment overseas.

In just a few days, the laptop was shipped from Kitakyushu to Akihabara in Tokyo, where a Toshiba repair center quickly replaced the hard drive and got the system back to me. Since that time, I’ve put the laptop through quite a few paces: I brought it with me to the schools I taught at, kept it on for days on end as an FTP server. I made the Statement of Agreement website on it, followed by the video and wrote quite a few reviews for Gamecritics too. I’ve done a lot with it.

The laptop has recently acted as a side machine/internet laptop. The DVD-RW drive is spotty and the right speaker doesn’t work. Other than that, the machine has pretty much been my side for quite awhile.

It’s easy to wonder why I would be so attached to a computer. Specifically, a hard drive. But if you look carefully at the what and when of it all, the laptop has been around during some of the most interesting times of my life. It helped me create some very cool works.

After taking the hard drive out from the bottom of the laptop, I searched for the hard drive on eBay via the model number printed on surface. The cost ranges from $65 for the same drive to around $45 for smaller, 30gb model. I should be diving in for a replacement, but I’m waiting for payday to come around.

30gb hard drive, you served me well.

I’ve been unemployed for three months now. In May I travelled in order to catch some inspiration and visit old friends. I still have more pictures to post from that time but I wanted to break the silence for now and throw out more recent happenings.

PowerMac G5

Just before I left Japan I decided to take a plunge and purchase a Dual 2.0ghz PowerMac G5 and Final Cut Studio. This was not cheap at all. In fact, it plunked one of my credit cards so hard that its bank actually increased my interest rate, which leads me to the following…

eBay

I’ve sold just about any big item or item of non-value, non-sympathy out there to more appreciative (and paying) bidders. I am actually able to make some extra cash right now as well. Apparently, I’ve been on eBay for seven years - I started window shopping there when I was still in college.

Exercise

A family friend’s son is staying with us and he had the same mindset about jogging. We started about six or seven weeks ago. At first, we ran 4-5 days of the week for about 20 minutes with a five minute break in between. But our bodies weren’t getting enough rest. Now, we run three times a week. In total we’ve definitely run over 50 some odd miles total, and my blood pressure is 103/66. Can’t say that Wal Mart’s machine will be accurate but if my friend had a 145/105 reading and is on medication, I’ll believe my number.

Work Search
It’s starting to take its mental toll on me…being home that is and not having a job. I’ve been searching on craigslist in their LA and Orange County sections… locales to me. Out of the many resumes I’ve sent, I went to one interview. It didn’t seem a fit to me and I was under-qualified. I keep searching for something that I can be happy with.

Projects

My next video is 80 percent complete and holding still. I need to shoot the establishing scenes soon - this has been a problem due to my friend’s scheduling difficulties. I want to get it done soon so that I can continue smoothly on my short reel.. an experiment with Apple’s “Motion” software.

I also just paid for ecto prior to making this post. It’s worth 18 bucks to update multiple blogs under one tool. That and thus far the updates seem constant. This may have well been the first time I’ve paid for a small piece of weblogging software, and so far I’m happy.

I’m here. But I’ve been trying to keep myself busy as well… Learning software (more on that in the future), selling things, keeping mentally busy and physically fit to some degree.

I have no regrets with my path thus far, I am just hoping that there is a happy ending to this chapter in my life.

Today was comfortable. I went to Fry’s Electronics, a store that all computer and gaming geeks will particularly enjoy.

I decided to use some of my JET pension money and pick myself up a DVD recorder/rewriter. Pioneer DVR-S606. I was able to put Statement of Agreement onto a test DVD. I want to make the menus look slicker and have more control in creating them - the bundled software is for the basic, entry level user.

So I’m happy I can now burn my projects to DVDs. I tried running it on my PS2, my region-free DVD player and my laptop’s player as well. So far so good. I also backed up my web projects and video project directory onto a single DVD, which is definitely less clumsy. One of my biggest video projects in the past spanned over 10 cd-roms.

I’ve been flipping through this Blue Cross “handbook” looking at health plans. I was surprised temps could even get access to benefits. I am honestly lost. I know I’m going to choose PPO and what not, but a lot flies right over my head. That’s it. I am packing up to go to Canada, where healthcare is pretty.

Next weekend I’d like to go home to La Verne so that JJ can help me look into a good, fitting pair of rollerblades. Initiative isn’t enough.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a whole lot of fun, by the way.

It’s fairly old news, at least to me. Still, I thought I would share:

Casio has an Exilim line of slim digital still cameras that I would prod at during my runs through Best Denki.

To see how slim (relative to, say, the human hand), check out this commercial:
EX-S3 advertisement (Quicktime, 1.96MB)

Additionally, the Exilim website has sample images from the current line. You can also view two commercials for it:
http://www.exilim.jp/

One of the models came bundled with a neat waterproof case. When they say “card thin”, it’s good enough to slide into your pockets. I wonder how the battery life is… I know there are smaller cameras out there, but I did like the small-yet-manageable size of the Exilims.

Today I helped JJ eBay a collection of Yu Gi Oh cards, around 540 of them. We spent a little time scanning the rare cards in the lot and taking pictures of the rest of them. It took a bit to list, but it was fun along the way. Someone already placed a bid on a Game Boy Advance game he’s been meaning to sell.

Later on, my room became the amusement center. JJ, Nicolai and three of their friends (they all live in the houses between us) were browsing the gaming goodness. JJ kept on trying to beat fellow Pop ‘n’ Taisen Pazurudama players in Japan, but ended up challenging the CPU for practice instead. Later in the evening they returned and tried out the latest home iteration of Dance Dance Revolution. I think I’m striking a good chord with some of the kids around here.

It was a little loud and hectic at one point - it reminded me of my time in between classes or lunch with the kids in Kitakyushu.

Apple’s Latest Greatest Offer

Send in your Adobe Premiere setup discs (Mac or Windows accepted) and choose:

1. Final Cut Express for *free*.
2. $500 rebate off of Final Cut Pro 4.0

http://www.apple.com/finalcut/offer/

I think someone’s been reading my latest Mac lust entries…

Apple announced their new Powermac G5 computers. The new physical design of the G5 case is sexy as hell. It’s ultra-minimal. The inside looks like something off of an exposed panel on a deck of the Enterprise.

The cost for the systems isn’t all that bad either. I was expecting some crazy prices to show up.

But can you see it? I’m speaking like a convert and I don’t even own a Mac. I never have. Apple’s marketing department is very effective in causing a stir.

Steve Jobs says “…we’ve caught up with them on the PC… integer… floating point…. with real world apps”. And so on and so forth. In his keynote speech in San Francisco he brought about all the figureheads at development studios and what have you. It was all quite impressive and exciting. The G5 outdoes even the most powerful Windows desktop they have running.

He pushes the Apple brand even harder by talking about the past year and the 12″ powerbooks. “The smallest notebook in the world”.

He didn’t acknowledge all the very, very tiny laptops released here in Japan. The Sony U1, for example. The world is not the United States. Though it must be for most people back home.

Sony PCG-U101. I used to wonder, “why would I want something so small”. But even after being here for just ten months, I understand. Tiny. Really tiny. Put-in-your-shoulder-bag tiny.

The Powermac G5. “The World’s Fastest Desktop”… for now. It’s obvious that Windows competitors will edge up the speed at the end of the year if not later. It’s the neverending cycle.

Still… I wouldn’t mind owning an Apple. Time will tell how the initial batches of these Powermacs fare in the real world. I’m primarily interested in its video capabilities. From my previous job as a tech support rep, I know for a fact that troubleshooting Macs was pleasant. Dealing with a call about PCs was like trying to resurrect the dead. Everytime.