11.29.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:34 pm by GaZ
Sorry for the lack of updates… I’ve been hesitant to post because I’m waiting for some big news to come through. More on that in a few days. But, just to quell a few rumours (Arash), i’ll say this: No, Hanne is not pregnant and no, we’re not engaged! Sheesh.
Over the past few days I’ve started getting hit by spammers, with around 50 comments on Friday alone. Also, looking through my web statistics I noticed the latest breed of spam (and as discussed with Mr Spencer): referral spam! Since I don’t publish my (measely) webstats then this obviously won’t be too effective for spammers, but they did get me to visit their website the first time, when I wondered how on earth my site would be linked from a very dodgy sounding russian domain (I was also shocked to discover that there is actually PORNOGRAPHY on this Internet!! What’s the world coming to?!? I shall be posting a letter to Tony Blair immediately to get this website taken down!). Anyway… so I started looking in to ways to combat this referrer-spam menace, and came across the following useful articles. Check ‘em out if you’re ever having the same problem. Also, apparently Lycos is getting in on the Spam-fighting act with a screensaver to help spam the spammers… spiffy, but let’s just hope it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Going back to the webstats thing, it’s always interesting to see what search terms are used to find your site. There are many ways of detecting this… luckily I have a handy webstats package already installed on my web host called AwStats which does everything for me. Here’s a selection of some of the results from this month(guess which ones Hesam spoofed!):
Keyphrases Hits
gareth western 13
davidblane 9
google/bananaphone 9
tongue gallery 5
bonfire prayers 4
senor frogs ixtapa 4
shanghai images 3
mr universe 2004 gallery 3
cm30078 3
gareth western or hello! i see you! do you see me? 2
norway photo gallery 2
gareth western or i see j00 and i am hax0ring your awstats 2
white fluffy rug 2
coronary burger 2
old prom 2
photo gallery birthday 2
gareth western or i see you looking at your stats 2
paraskavedekatriaphobia 2
pictures chinglish 2
drunkfools 2
winamp now playing php dynamic 2
aventuremail 2
awty international school math problems 2
john wyman uk 2
lake mjøsa 2
gareth ball 1
bird shit is good luck 1
j2ee security cleared cv 1
gareth western or otherwise known as the negroni 1
paraded down the street naked 1
policemen sex video soho 1
recruitment mi6 assessment centre 1
ghettos of birmingham england 1
photo gallery shanghai 1
my washing machine overflowed 1
policemen soho suspended porn 1
university of arseanal 1
Bleh… that’s all for now.
Permalink
11.25.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:26 am by GaZ
Exhibit A: Mark Swanborough
Exhibit B: Tristan Caulfield
… two friends from those carefree* student days of the final year! Enjoy.
*In this context I’m changing the definition of carefree to actually mean “unbearably stressful and care-full” (the opposite of carefree)
Permalink
11.22.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:51 pm by GaZ
… it could be so much worse!
Permalink
11.21.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:25 pm by GaZ
The other day I stumbled across a nifty little java program for mobile phones: YellMobile. All the basic search requests are free of charge (except for your network usage charges for data transfers), and for a modest fee you can also get step-by-step directions, full colour map, or download the buisness card (in the standard vcard format).
Shibby!
Permalink
11.20.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:50 pm by GaZ
… for posting more political crap, but i’m still sore about this.
He cheated (again) - Why electronic voting is a BAD idea (taken from Slashdot, where you can read more opinions on the matter).
Aliens for Bush!
Permalink
11.18.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:21 pm by GaZ
Only in Texas would they come up with something like this.
Also, here’s a an interesting bit of news (eh, ok, it’s only interesting if you’re an uber-nerd like myself): Gmail have announced a POP service, so you can now check your gmail account using clients such as Thunderbird (or Outlook, if you must)! woohoo! Go, go Google!
Hotmail also (finally) upgraded their servers to give (most) people 250MB accounts, which is a bit of an improvement, but this new Gmail POP feature beats that hands down.
And while i’m on a geeky-tirade here I guess i’ll just say how great the recently released Half Life 2 is. It took it’s time getting here (only a little over a year late), but it was worth it!
Hanne’s parents are on their way here now, however they’re delayed for a few hours in Copenhagen… d’oh! They were looking forwards to getting away from the recent onslaught of snow over in Norway (as Hanne mentioned), but unfortunately for them it just started snowing here a couple of hours ago! Rah! It’s not really settling much yet, but the flakes are huge so it’s just a matter of time before it starts piling up!
Permalink
11.15.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:11 pm by GaZ
Just a brief note:
Here’s some news regarding a link I posted in my last entry…
werenotsorry.com? Hah! Too bad DNS doesn’t support apostrophes! 
Permalink
11.14.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:27 pm by GaZ
Maybe it’s just the gloomy winter weather, but as Ferd recently pointed out, things are looking bleak in the world. And, as if a monkey ruling the world wasn’t bad enough, how about the Terminator? But enough about that… time to start making the christmas cheer!
Christmas is drawing ever closer… and as Claire (one of my roomies from ye olden dayes of university) used to say: it’s getting quite pearl harbour outside (there’s a nip in the air… hah!). Because I’m no longer a man of leisure I won’t have time to travel around the world to be with my parents in Boreo, this holiday season 
ButHanne has bought me a ticket to come and spend Christmas and New Years in Norway with her family! woohoo! It’ll be my first really white Christmas for quite a few years, so i’m really looking forwards to it.
Incidentally her parents are coming here next week as there’s a cat show on at the NEC next weekend (Mrs Holst breeds Siamese cats, as you can see on her homepage!). My grandparents will also be coming down for the first weekend in December, as there’s a model train show on at the NEC which my grandfather wants to attend, so it’ll be nice to return the hospitality they’ve shown Hanne and me over the years, including this past weekend which we spent up there 
Furthermore there are a couple of new websites on t’Internet:
- Arash - another roomie from student days gone by (yes, yet another WP + Gallery installation)
and
- my parents (no WP, yet, but there is a gallery!)
Finally, tomorrow at work I shall be listening to Bloom (which FINALLY arrived the other day), so the workdays should go by in a jiffy (see, i’m still supporting those impoverished electronica artists, Hesam ;-))
Permalink
11.05.04
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:50 pm by GaZ
Remember, remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holler boys, holler boys, ring bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys, God Save the King!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’cheese to choke him
A pint of beer to rinse it down
A faggot of sticks to burn him
Burn him in a tub of tar
Burn him like a blazing star
Burn his body from his head
Then we’ll say old Pope is dead
Hip Hip Hoorah!
Hip Hip Hoorah!
Hip Hip Hoorah!
Now get out there and blow something up!
Note: I do not, however, condone stuff blowing up… ouch!
And Tequila is 9 today! Happy Birthday Tequila! woof.
Permalink