There was a malicious attack on the site but it was thwarted by a professional hired by Mick. Details from Mick: "It was an amateur DDOS by only two computers, the guy has blocked the gaping hole that allowed them to do this. they weren't actually sending any requests, but were doing a SYN flood instead - bombard Apache with connection requests, then when the connection is opened, just do nothing (don't request a page). That ties the Apache process up for a few minutes until the connection eventually times out." Obvious really.
I work with people like Mick. I look a bit incongruous alongside them as I struggle to switch on my mostly-redundant mobile phone.
This sort of activity is perpetrated by individuals looking to hack onto systems by bypassing their firewalls. If the server is configured in the right way to permit this malevolent access every fourteen year old in Russia will be on it! Fulkes, as a sort of Techie, I do not have a mobile phone at all. I used to work in the telephone industry so I am fully aware of what a complete rip-off most miniaturised digital technology has become. Those suckers that shell out £400 a year on Steve Jobs’ latest i-product would be better off buying some apples with their hard-earned and taking back control of their lives. Sadly the way society is going, I fully expect my young nieces will soon be demanding mobile phones from my sister-in-law and my brother, who will be footing the bill. Gone are the days when plans were made in advance and when the English language was spoken and written. All f**kin txt now, innit?
We live in an age of bullshit, which is force fed to us by the shovel load. Everywhere we go we see a mobile phone binding us to some telco, intent on ripping the arse out of our defenceless bodies. Sure business needs the phone, but every second kid has a phone. What are they doing, selling cars, moving the markets? And of course most of us, most of the time, use the damn thing for non urgent contact with family or friends. Most of the time I use a land line for my local calls. Cheap of chips. If I need long distance, I wait until cheap time and can chat Nation wide for the entire night for less than $2. And I'm a grumpy old man.
Cyc, we need to open a Grumpy Old Men forum. Perhaps we should go on Facebook and start something and we could quickly have a million ‘friends’ following us that we have never met. I know that being in my forties does not really qualify me as old but I sit in an office where mobiles spend most of their day buzzing away with missed calls etc. on their young owners’ desks because they have left them lying around instead of carrying them everywhere so that they actually serve their expensive purpose. My boss is only slightly younger than me and he bought two of Mr Jobs’ toys last year for over £800 for himself and his wife. That sort of money would have bought them a decent holiday rather than an irritating little box that buzzes unattended on his desk half the day. I guess it is their money to waste as they choose so I should not be so grumpy about it and just get some ear plugs! The saying goes “a fool and his money are soon parted” but I prefer “a fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place”.
You may be just 40 Moon, but you certainly have the heard of a grumpy old man. I like your idea of a million grumpies on FaceBook.
here's one I know (from football) but there are some others (Grumpyoldsod, Grumpy Grandpa etc) http://www.not606.com/member.php/1005652-grumpygit
