October 2003 Archives

I've been playing around with a new stats analyzer a bit, and here are some stats based on data from the last 3 months :

Total hits: 112,330
Total page views: 27,290
Total visitors: 5,509
Total bytes transferred: 1.13 Gig
Starting day: 30/Jul/2003
Ending day: 31/Oct/2003
Total days covered: 94
Average hits per day: 1,195
Average page views per day: 290
Average visitors per day: 114
Average bytes transferred per day: 12.34 Meg
Average bytes transferred per second: 149 bytes

Not at all impressive when compared to big blogs or websites, but still... seeing that FK is 98% text, transferring 12.34 meg a day is quite a lot!

The US continues their "we rule the world and do as we please" attitude. Yesterday a vote in the US Senate to reduce carbon dioxide levels by 2010 to levels measured in 2000, was not accepted with a 43-55 voting. Read the full article here : U.S. Senate rejects bipartisan plan to cap greenhouse gas. Apparently, if they're not busy attacking some "terrorist" countries, they are fighting generally accepted measures to prevent our planet from being completely fucked up. They seem to forget that in the end, they too will be left with a more extreme climate, unless we all do our best in these matters. Maybe they are convinced that climate problems will stop at their borders?

Maybe the worldwide supported environmental propositions are a sneaky way in which terrorists want to subdue the USA?

Belgium launched a very big campain to allow citizens to file their taxes online, in order to support easier access to data, e-government and such. However, now they don't seem to be able to actually process those electronically filed taxforms, although more recent news claims that they are not able to process any tax form due to problems with BeTax - their new software application - which doesn't seem to work as expected. Let's see... no tax processing means no refunds or very long delays in getting them. Might this be another way to keep the national budget balanced?

You really gotta wonder... after the nice "Belgacom Pension Fund" trick they pulled to solve deficits in the budget, one shouldn't be suprised about the other tricks they might have up their sleeve.

I was walking around in this building, which seems to be my recently acquired home. In some places it was normal, in others it had more or less industrial size. It was far from inhabitable yet, and I recall being busy installing some sort of desk and lights.

I had these weird lights that look normal, but it actually were inflatable lights, which means I have to blow them up, then put in the socket to make them airtight. While I was doing so, I suddenly got up and walked through some hallways and corridors, to suddenly reach one of the industrial sized rooms. I looked left and right and felt a draft. Then I realized that in order to stop draft from going through the complete place I had to get those doors in the corridor installed, but where were they?

I looked back in the corridor, found two parts of the doors, but the center piece was missing. I was also wondering where the hinges were and why there were locks and chains attached to the door.

Somehow I got back to my desk building task and when I was discussing something with a totally stunning young woman, with extensive tattoo coverage - mostly blackwork with excellent shading - who was apparently my partner, I knew I was dreaming.

She reminds me of Star Trek for some reason, a show that I haven't seen in a while, so there is no direct connection. It wasn't Seven of Nine either (just ruling out the obvious) although she resembled the same somehow. Strange, ain't it?

There are - unfortunately - no gorgeous women with extensive tattoo coverage in my life, let alone in a relationship with me. Thinking about it, there aren't even gorgeous women in my life at all. Well, I know some gorgeous women, but I wouldn't really say they are a part of my life. Too bad, not?

Very strange dream, if anyone has a clue what it means, tell me!

I helped Smeg figure out what Track Backs are - well I pointed him in the right direction at least - and he told me what he used to get those cool references to posts in the past to show up.

I took a look at the MT On This Day plugin by Brad Choate and installed it.

I added my regular bits of javascript code and escaped some chars to get the nice title and onmouse over effects to show up as well and now I'm a happy camper once more. Should you wanna add those to your "On This Day" plugin, just ask me, I'll happily share the code I used for it.

Update : Played around with the "Posted by" line a bit more 'coz it to became too long. Abbreviated the year to '02, '01 etc to prevent overflowing when we hit 2004. Shouldn't lower useability, yet improve overall visuals.

Update 2 : Apparently I forgot to include the Track Back popup code when I restored the functionality (I had it stripped out a couple of months ago because I didn't see any real benefits in it). T-Back still functioned, but it was crippled. Not anymore. I should pay more attention when I hack templates and code :)

I'm listening to some mixes by DJ Testosterone - actually a chick, so what's in a name? - and they kick ass! I could be bouncing around (hence the title), but I'm not as I'm busy printing out my CV and writing another application letter.

This time for a fulltime job as network administrator in a place not too far away from here. The only thing that bothers me is that they seem to be a very Christian organisation and that's not really one of my strong points. I accept everyone's belief, but I'm not christian myself, nor will I pretend to be something I'm not. Oh well, who knows : I might get an interview and it could all be good.

Now excuse me, I'm gonna bounce around a bit ;)

I just cooked a delicious yet pretty simple meal. You need some chickenwings, olive oil, some chinese black (salted) beans, soy sauce and rice.

Put a drop of olive oil in the wok, and heat it up. Chop off the tips of the chickenwings, and throw them in the wok, with some soy sauce. Stir fry , add a teaspoon of sugar, and fry till the wings are brownish all around.

Boil water and rice in the mean time. Add the crushed and soaked black chinese beans to the wok and lower the temperature considerably. Keep on stir frying them till the rice is ready (around 18-20 minutes - If you use quickboil rice, obviously you have to keep the temperature for the wings up).

Remove the chickenwings from the wok and keep them warm. Pour the remains of the olive oil, black beans and such out of the wok, and drop the rice in it including the water!. Stir fry the rice till crispy. Serve with a moist towel to wipe your fingers and hands, because this is a "eat with your feet hands meal!"

If you'd like to try this dish yourself, give it a go! Tell me whether you liked it. Oh, and if little wabbit would like to come over and have this (or any other dish) prepared especially for her, I would be more than glad to accomodate her ;)

If you know Pong, Space Invaders and the original Tetris, you're old. If you've played them, you're even older. This is what some kids from the PS2/Xbox generation had to say about those golden oldies : Child's Play

My opinion? They're spoiled kids that are too stupid to understand the (simple) concept behind Tetris. But I'm old and biased anyway.

Will people never learn? I've been getting quite some Sober-A aka Odin infected mails today and yesterday... most of them coming from an ADSL user on the Planet Internet network. All of them have been reported to the abuse/complaints departement of the ISP and I hope they either contact the user, or just cut his connection.

If you don't run (up-to-date) anti-virus software, a firewall and have at least basic understanding of e-mail usage and attachments

YOU DON'T FUCKING BELONG ON THE FUCKING INFORMATION HIGHWAY!

Get lost, go back and play with Fisher Price for all I care, but stay out of things you don't have a clue about. Yes, I'm pretty fed up with it... can you tell?

I just got a mail from Nadia with some jokes, thruths and such. Most I already knew, but some I didn't and I'd like to share them with you :

How do you know when you're leading a sad life? When a nymphomaniac tells you, "Lets just be friends."

Did you hear about the dyslexic Rabbi? He walks around saying "Yo."

What's the difference between a Japanese zoo, and an Australian zoo? A Japanese zoo has a description of the animal on the front the cage, along with a recipe.

I just installed Jay Allen's MT-Blacklist plugin. This entry is only for testing/reporting purposes, but the installation itself was sweeeeet.

If all tests are good and to my liking, I'll install it on two more blogs tomorrow.

Update : Second blog is installed as well, off to do number three now!

that's what the Belgian justice system is... You want some examples? Three men (aged 22, 25 and 28) kidnap, rob and kill a bartender. One of the suspects even throws a party for some friends with the money stolen from the victim. They get caught, go to trial and the defense claims they had a bad youth etc. No problems with that, it's the defenders task to defend their clients. The jury sees right through all the bullshit and convicts all three of them to life imprisonment.

Way to go, they get punished as they should, after all... the victim - or rather his family, wife, 7 month old daughter also got life. The difference? The convicted killers can request to be released in 2016, which means life is not life at all, but just a fraction of it! Nice justice, as I don't think the wife and daughter will be able to request that their husband/father comes back in 2016. He's gone forever.

Another example. About 10 years ago, a politician was murdered, if you hear the name "Andre Cools" it might ring a bell. The trials have just started, or at least justice is trying to get something together that might look like it. The main suspect committed suicide last year, and of the 8 other people on trial, 3 have run and are nowhere to be found. I don't blame them, would you wait for 10 years to see if anyone actually shows up to question/arrest you in a murder trial?

But that's not all, there's more to it. 1 dead suspect, 3 suspects on the run, leaves 5 more, correct? Not really. One of the suspects is "ill" and needs medical help/hospitalisation. Apparently his obesity caused increased risk for cardiac arrests etc, so he can't make it to the trial. And two days later, 2 other suspects are "not feeling too well" and also tell justice to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. They are "depressed", I wonder why?

Now... what's left of this case? 2 suspects. Oh, let's not forget about the two Tunesian contract killers that actually fired the shots, they are already convicted in Tunesia for the murder, but Belgian Justice requires them to testify. Where are they? Hmm... maybe in a Tunesian prison? It seems nobody knows where they are, but they are expected to show up on thursday. Maybe. If someone can find them and get the Tunesian justice departement to cooperate.

Yes, this is Belgium, all the way, all the time. It's a magnificent country, really. People that defend themselves and shoot a burglar get thrown in jail, but if you murder people you get away with peanuts and a pat on the back. Unless you run from the police first. In that case we won't have a clue where you are, and we may look for you. Or maybe not.

Added to the list of blogs/sites I'm keeping an eye on : JayAllen.org. Not only is this man the author/coder/geek that developed the MT-Blacklist plugin, but he writes funny stories "From the Road" as well. A definite read!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one thinking the same thoughts, as an article on Security Focus shows : Joe Average User Is In Trouble.

Why do people still insist to buy and "operate^*" an advanced, top of the shelf computer without any prior knowledge, but accept that they need to take classes and exams before they are allowed to drive a car?

Read that article, please do. Then at least wonder for a second why I bore you time and time again about firewalls, virusscanners, windows update, patches, hotfixes, e-mail security, spam, spyware, adware, trojans and viruses. It's not simply because I love using those words - well, maybe a little lot - but because it is the only way to keep yourself (and me for that matter) safe out there.

Think about the last time your computer got infected with a very well known virus, about the last time you were flooded with spam - yes, those two things are very probably related to eachother! - and then hopefully recall all the advice I've given you in the past. It's not to late to learn, but sometimes I really wonder why I still bother trying to educate computer users.

^* "Operate" is used in a very loose context. Some people might claim that simply being able to turn on the thing equals "operating" it. Others claim that you have to be able to start Word and print out something in order to be considered a computer operator. Both statements are as true as calling yourself a professional golf player when you manage to put the ball - in only 7 strokes - on a mini-golf course.

I'm drinking hot tea, mixed with a good portion of lemon juice and some honey. The attack of the snot I've been suffering from seems to have moved and settled in the form of a sore throat. It's either that or the fact that I'm getting too old to sleep with the window open when it's nearly freezing outside. As I'm not prepared to accept the latter, it's gotta be the first one.

So... what's up with me these days? To be honest : nothing. And that's exactly what I do all day long. I'm getting pretty good at it too I'd say, so if someone wants to learn from the master, talk to the hand me.

I'll be off to the post office shortly - gotta pick up some snail mail stamps - and then lounge around till it's bedtime again. Yes yes, exciting, not?

I just finished watching "Amores Perros", a Mexican drama shot in 2000 by director Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rittu. At a running time of 2 hours and 33 minutes, certainly not a movie to just squeeze in when you've got an hour to kill. Nor does the subject and story lets you easily forget about it.

If I'd write that three seperate lives - "Young mother with husband, kid and husbands brother", "Man who left his wife and daughters for mistress", and "Teacher who became a renegade killer" - and stories are entwined and connected throughout the movie, it could sound like a massmarket hollywood blockbuster. But it is not...

Their lives are connected by their dogs, and they show up all the time. Unfortunately, dogs are not pets for (some of) these people but rather a way to make money. Dogfights are spread throughout the movie and while the director said in an interview that he was suprised that "people were shocked by the dogfights, but not by the car crash and injured people", I reacted the same way.

We - as humans - have a better insight in what is happening and for what reason, whereas an animal often only has an instinct to rely on and doesn't see the big picture. In other words... I wasn't shocked by two people severely injured, one dead in a car crash, but I saw (several) dogfights in which two dogs battle it out for their life and I was shocked.

Sure, now I might get reactions like "but a human life is so much more worth as an animal life" but I don't agree. Those dogs fight because "we" make them fight. Otherwise they'd only fight if there was no other way out, but in we put them in a situation where there is not other choice. And that just proves to me that people who do such things have failed on a human level.

It's not because you can, that you should. If you wanna see gore, blood and injuries, go fight yourself, but don't use an animal to do the things you can't handle yourself. It just makes you a loser.

Oh, if you ever get the chance to catch this movie, you certainly should do so... it's worth every second, just make sure you ain't eaten right before it ;)

A story on the outage that FK suffered from a few days ago : Newsday.com - Terror Link to Mass "Blog" Outage

Aarrgghh... I still feel like crap, and the weather is not really helpful these last days. I'm not one to complain about coldness, but I've found it too fucking cold the past week(s)!

Snot is finding its way out of my nose at an alarming rate, I wonder where it is coming from and my head hurts like someone has been hitting it with a basball bat. I bet I look the same as I feel : crappy. I'm gonna stay in during the weekend and hopefully feel like reborn on monday.

Oh well... I'll survive I suppose. No news yet from the job application, so let's keep the fingers crossed.

Released a few days ago - I wonder how I managed to miss it?

- Mozilla Firebird 0.7
- Mozilla 1.5

For those of you in the dark about what Mozilla is and what the difference is between Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla, a short explenation (from the FAQ) :

What's the difference between Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla?

Mozilla (Application Suite) is a complete suite of web related applications, such as a browser, a mail/news client, a chat client and much more. Mozilla Firebird is just a browser, which makes it a better choice if you already have a mail client for example. Also, since Mozilla Firebird is smaller than the whole Mozilla suite, it's faster and easier to use.

Note, though, that Mozilla Firebird is not just the standalone Mozilla browser. The user interface in Mozilla Firebird differs from Mozilla in many ways. For example, Mozilla Firebird has customizable toolbars.

I've been using Mozilla as my default browser for quite a few years now, and I never used the built in News or Mail client, which means I was basically installing a complete package of which I then stripped 80% of it's functionality. Stupid decision on my part, I agree.

Note : After reading through the Tips & Tricks page for Firebird, I added (experimental) pipelining, nearly instant rendering and some changed search preferences to my user profile, as well as installed Tabbrowser extentions. Now, I've got pretty much everything I need - Firebird has just become my default browser!

A pat on the back for myself... I finally managed to fix all those small and annoying layout problems that I had with bodymodification.be, especially when it came to display correctly in Internet Explorer.

For some strange reason IE doesn't like pages with 3 different Z-indexes and a mixture of tables and CSS positioning. I dropped one of the layers, moved the menu around and voila : it's all running now!

Even better news is that I was able to have Marisa Kakoulas send in (and give us the right to publish it) an article about a EU study published in July 2003, and a promise that she'd write more in the future. So that's a double yay!

Up next is cleaning out cluttered code, streamling everything, do a few small tweaks and start getting the site known. Adding a discussion forum is a possibility I'll have to look into later one, but I don't really think it's a necessity.

Hey, go check it out and feel free to leave comments here - since I've disabled and stripped commenting on bodymodification.be.

As some of you clearly noticed - thanks for that mail and phonecall Joco - friedkitten.com went down for a few hours today. Actually, that wasn't the only site of mine to go down, as invalid.be, honeypot.be, bodymodification.be, neversilent.org and Alex Blogje also suffered from the DoS attack that was directed at one of the IP addresses of my webhost.

This DoS attack was a sequel to one which was launched on october 16th, after which my host already took measures to move the targeted site off their network and onto another IP block. Unfortunately, the attackers were as dumb as to realize this and thus todays attack accomplished nothing but a bunch of collateral damage and sites going down that have got nothing to do with the target. I hope they hang the fuckers that DoS'ed us!

Now... thanks to the excellent service of the hostingmatters crew, they assigned completely new IP addresses to 25 servers, moving them all out of the way of the IP block under fire. I wonder how many hosts would do (or be able to do) such thing in so little time, and at the same time keep their clients updated through their off-network emergency forums?!

Some people in the forums were pissed off - which I totally understand - and threathening to leave HM over this downtime. They don't seem to understand that every host can be DoS'ed and made unreachable, no matter how good they are. Thanks to the swift action of HM, they were able to restore access in a minimum of time.

Note : The host that was targetted by the DoS attack was Internet haganah someone claimed, and by looking at their page it could be true.

I should have trusted my gut feeling on it after all. I just managed to kill a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo D notebook, which is nothing special you might think. However, the notebook is a couple of thousand miles away from where I am : it's in Bejing, China.

What happened? Xia Mei Rosie posted a question for help in regard to her notbook seriously overheating after 30 minutes. I was one of the people to reply to her question and after checking the obvious things (airduckts free etc) I dug a little deeper. The bios on her notebook was release F50, whereas in F53 some adjustements were made to powersaving and thermal controls. So I suggested she'd attempt a bios upgrade, but I also warned her that - while it's not particulary difficult - in case it would go wrong, it would require intervention from Fujitsu-Siemens to get it running again.

Over a timespan of nearly 2 weeks I worked with her to get the correct model number, what OS it had, all the techy details before knowing for sure what bios upgrade is needed. Then came the task of creating a dos boot disk, and just that simple thing took nearly 4 days. Today - finally? - we (well, actually she) went ahead and flashed the bios while being in an internet caf� and having me at the other side of the world, giving her dos commands. She said "I'm off to do the upgrade now *brave smile*".

Next message I get is "oh, it's fucked, fucked up, totally fucked". I thought at first that she was kidding me, but apparently she's not. The flasher reported that it was done, press any key to reboot and then the notebook just died. Sudden power off and that was it. Now (after trying reboot, cold boot, remove power/battery) it just gives the F-S boot screen, they the F2-F12 setup option after which it cycles again and returns to the F-S screen.

If you ask me... it's pretty dead and only a visit to an authorized F-S can reanimate it. To make things more complex - you didn't think this was a ordinary simple bios replacement, did you? - the Amilo D series notebook is only sold in Europe, not in the Far East. China, in other words, doesn't have/know that model of notebook. She'll have to call Internation Support in the UK, and they'll probably claim that they can't support users in China. I've send her a list of local chinese authorised dealers for the Lifebook model, in the hope she can get a bit of help there.

I doubt that she'd need a complete new motherboard, a replacement bios chip should do the trick. I hope...

Note : I think I might have to re-evaluate my qualities as a support technician after things like this. Surely, the fact that there hardly any english computers or technicians in China, or that her notebook is running a french version of windows XP should not matter, but it did complicate things a bit. As I said : I should have backed out way before going on the bios upgrade path, especially with a user that is not used to advanced techy stuff. My bad I suppose, and I feel guilty even though I warned her several times.

I just printed an application letter for a short term contract (3 months) as a PC-support technician for an organisation that manages around 500 desktops. I don't know whether or not they'll accept my candidacy, but one can try, right?

I'll drop the letter in the mailbox later today when I head out for food. I think it's damn cold outside and I even had to turn on the heating twice over the last two weeks.

Joco called me around noon to let me know he has returned to the land of the living, although he's not yet totally convinced :) Welcome back mate!

I just called Eef and it seems I'll be proven correct - she too thinks Joco won't be returning to this world before late this evening. Because I love my good mate, I thought it might be funny to put some (adapted/modified) lyrics up for him :

Wat zullen we drinken, zeven dagen lang
Wat zullen we drinken, wat een dorst
Wat zullen we drinken, zeven dagen lang
Wat zullen we drinken, wat een dorst

Er is genoeg voor iedereen
Dus drinken we samen
Sla het vat maar aan
Ja, drinken we samen, niet alleen
Er is genoeg voor iedereen
Dus drinken we samen
Sla het vat maar aan
Ja, drinken we samen, niet alleen

Dan zullen we spouwen, zeven uren lang
Dan zullen we kuisen voor elkaar
Dan zullen we spouwen, zeven uren lang
Dan zullen we kuisen voor elkaar

Dan is er een toilet voor iedereen
Dus spouwen we samen
Zeven uren lang
Dus spouwen we samen, niet alleen
Dan is er een toilet voor iedereen
Dus spouwen we samen
Zeven uren lang
Dus spouwen we samen, niet alleen

Eerst moeten we vechten
Om recht te blijven
Eerst moeten we vechten
Voor ons evenwicht

Voor het geluk van iedereen
Dus strompelen we samen, samen staan we stevig
Dus strompelen we samen, niet alleen

I just got home from Joco & Ice's Birthday Party (Joco hit 29, Ice hit 30) and it was quite a lot of fun. A guestimate of mine is that Ice will feel like 40 years old instead of 30 tomorrow morning, and Joco... well let's say that he'll start feeling human again tomorrow evening.

Some people made a bit of a mess, and while cleaning up puke at 03h15 at night is not really entertaining, mates are mates and one does what's necessary to make sure they live. I can't guarantee that they'll remember though :)

We all had a lot of fun and in the end - as far as I know - everyone got home safe, and that's what counts. Thank god those two only celebrate a birthday once a year :)

Yesterday, I went to be around 21h00 - very unusual for me - woke back up around 2, had something to drink, and slept till 09h30 this morning. I've still got a headache and I feel warm (not in a "hot" way though)... I think I'm coming down with some illness, which wouldn't be good... it's my mates Joco and Ice's birthday party on saturday, and I'd love to be there.

Better hit the bed (very) early today and hopefully sweat it out.

MS03-41 : Vulnerability in Authenticode Verification Could Allow Remote Code Execution (823182) - Severity : Critical - Issued: October 15, 2003

MS03-43 : Buffer Overrun in Messenger Service Could Allow Code Execution (828035) - Severity : Critical - Issued: October 15, 2003

MS03-44 : Buffer Overrun in Windows Help and Support Center Could Lead to System Compromise (825119) - Severity : Critical - Issued: October 15, 2003

MS03-45 : Buffer Overrun in the ListBox and in the ComboBox Control Could Allow Code Execution (824141) - Severity : Important - Issued: October 15, 2003

(Systems affected/vulnerable : windows ME, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 Server)

In addition, critical patches for Exchange Server were also released, time to connect to windowsupdate, people!

Phew. I just uploaded the remaining Alex pictures so his gallery now has 28 entries or so. If you feel like it, go check it out.

After Joco & Eef picked him up around seven - and then they had to wait for a while since I was prepping dinner - I brought the fuzzies back out for a run, watched some TV (nothing interesting on, just some crappy football match), caught up with mails and IM's and went to bed around 21h00. Yes, you read correctly...

I fell asleep like a log, till around 02h00, woke up, got out of bed to drink something, and dove back in till this morning around 09h30. I think that long walk I did with Alex yesterday (about 1.5 hour) was a mistake. I should have made him walk, instead of sitting in his buggy! Coz when we got back home, I was beat and he was still full of energy. Note to self : feed kid less energetic food.

The kiddo is asleep for a while, and I've updated his site (alexcoulon.com) with a short overview of what we did so far, and what the plans are for the afternoon. Unfortunately, his site is in Dutch only, so I'm sorry for all the people that don't understand Dutch. You can however take a look at the 6 photographs taken so far, they're in the FK Photogallery (check under "Family").

can one get? I received a spam mail from a Belgian registry service a few hours ago. I hate spam, so I filed complaints with spamcop, and his provider. In addition, I also checked out his website and tracked down the person behind it all.

It turns out he's running a few commercial sites, all claiming to be legit companies, yet none of them carry the mandatory VAT number, nor their number assigned to them by the Chamber of Commerce. Both these things are extremely important when proving you are an official/legal business operator. Either he doesn't carry them because he doesn't have those, or he's a big fraud.

Checking the online listings of the Ministry of Economics (or whatever it's called in English) didn't show up any listing, for any of his businesses. Well, the list is not complete and could not contain all data, but still... it gave me an indication.

Anyway, I told him to stop spamming me - especially based on old whois/DNS information - and warned him that unless he wanted a little visit from the economic inspection in regards to his missing VAT and Chamber of Commerce registry numbers, he'd better get his act together. You wanna know what his reply was?

"Dear sir, I don't want to receive any more mail from you."

Doesn't this break all rules of common courtesy? He's the spammer, I tell him to shove it up his ass, and then he reacts like that. Either he thinks he's being funny, or he picked a bad way of telling me how I should have asked him to stop the unsollicited mail.

I don't care... I'm looking into this tomorrow thursday. In the mean time, if you're living in Belgium, and also received the spam regarding co.be, com.be, sa.be registrations from iCenter.be, please get in touch with me. If this moron thinks he's the smartest kid on the block, I'll gladly scatter his illusion.

Spammers Die.

Last night, Katja and the beautiful Gioia left the Big Brother 4 house. Apparently Katja got pretty drunk and did some dumb things, resulting in everyone agreeing that they had had it with her, so there wasn't much else she could do but leave.

I was actually watching the live stream when Katja and Gioia quit the house, but strangely enough it wasn't broadcasted live. Suddenly the stream switched to a wall and Q-Music. I bet they didn't wanna give the latest developments away untill today.

Gioia decided to leave with Katja - as she had already said she would do numerous times - and she did. I'm sorry to see Gioia go so soon, as I'd love to have observed that wonderful lady a bit more, but I can imagine that she missed Claudia (her girlfriend) pretty much and that the idea of spending a couple of more weeks in a place where you can't escape from people that often annoy you, is irritating, to say the least.

Well, Hannes and Kevin are very convinced that they are eliminating the competition, killing them off one by one, but they don't know that they are the losers who will be kicked out in a matter of weeks. This time the favorite people are taken out of the house and relocated, only to be brought back later on.

I can't wait to see the expression on their sorry faces when they ain't the winners, but in fact the losers. Unfortunately, one person is gonna be the victim of this all : Douglas (Dougie). Kevin and Hannes are voting to keep him in each week, and when they gotta vote next week, Vanessa's head will roll - although she might think she's safe for now. I'd rather see Dougie in the final group, as he seems to be a cool guy, and while tough and blunt sometimes, he means well.

Vanessa, Kevin and Hannes : up yours, losers.
Katja : well, you're a bit too much to my liking, but I hope the future is bright.
Gioia : you're lovely, and didn't break your word. Enjoy your freedom with Claudia and enjoy it to the max.
Dougie : I wish you see the light and the fact that it's the favorites that get nominated this year. Ask your "buddies" to vote you out, claim you miss Sara too much.

I've put some photographs of the IAM/BME bowling online in the friedkitten Gallery. Be advised though that I'm also planning an upgrade to a newer release of Gallery this week - if we can fix some of the permission problems that we're suffering from.

Another ticket has been openend at the hosting company, as it all started when we were moved between two servers and to another location. If you notice that you can't access the Gallery or don't see any new albums - or something like that - don't worry, just try again later.

Just a quick question to let everyone know I'm still alive. I got home around 04h30 or something like that and crashed in my bed, after catching up on some mails and instant messages. I'll probably add the photographs that Dutchweirdo and I made on the event, and afterwards when having drinks in Antwerp (Hoegaarden Caf� & Pelgrom).

Things to do next week :

monday : add photographs
tuesday : check heating & clean the place
wednesday : entertain/babysit little Alex (first gotta read the manual Eef wrote)
thursday : recuperate
friday : soccertable competition

In a few hours I'm off to meet the Dutch IAM'ers that are arriving in Antwerp, then we're off to have something to eat and around 20h15-20h30 we start bowling. I first gotta pick up a "Happy Birthday" card, coz Metal Patrick is celebrating today.

I just installed Mozilla 1.4.1 which was released yesterday and apparently fixes some security problems, as well as installer issues and GDI resource bugs. I couldn't find a detailed list of fixes though, so I can't say whether the upgrade is important/critical or not. I'm actually waiting for Mozilla 1.5 and Firebird 0.7 to be released soon... that should be interesting. Well, since most of you are using internet explorer anyway, I guess it doesn't matter.

I wonder when people will actually realize that I don't have any photographs, pictures or videos of big brother on this blog? I just mentioned Mathousca, Gioia and the others a few times and people keep on flooding my blog in search for those BB things. And the K4 hit "Ik ben een klein geil sletje" was transcribed a few weeks ago and has now moved to the archives (september 2003).

What else is new? I've been doing some more planning for the IAM/BME bowling meet tomorrow and I think we'll be going to have something to eat before we'll start throwing balls around. Writing about it suddenly reminds me to carge the batteries for the digital cam and clear the compact flash cards (done).

I finally received that pension plan from Fortis proposal I requested over a month ago, and will be looking into it next week. It seems interesting but I'm gonna tone down the monthly payments by at least 50% - I just don't have the spare 100 euro a month they propose.

Tonight we'll be playing an away match in table soccer, so I hope it's gonna be fun. Nothing else to report. Thanks everyone for the messages and sweet words about Plush, but I don't know whether I am so happy with it. I know you all mean well, but I don't expect you to understand how it feels for me. That's the reason I remove the possibility to comment (on that particular post) when something serious like that happens.

I've not had the reaction myself, but someone I know got this reaction in regard to a loss she suffered (yesterday), so this one is for everyone who thinks "it's just an animal" : fuck off. If you don't know anything about it, keep your fucking mouth shut.

I've just gotten the dreaded call from the vet, and as expected, the news was not good. Plush is no longer with us, as she died on the operating table. Apparently, her belly was a big mess and the bruises we spotted on her tummy was internal bleeding as we suspected.

When Elly and Joke opened her up for surgery, her belly was already filled with blood and although it seemed they would be able to control the damage and get her fixed up, it just was't possible. That's another ferret gone this year, but one thing is very important to me : she never was in pain, not even before the operation. I'm off now to tell the three remaining fuzzies the bad news.

I love you Plush.

I've been sitting by the phone for the past hour or so, expecting a call from the vet. I'm not delighted to get that call to be honest, as I presume it's gonna be bad news, and even though I won't be able to change fate, I wish I could. This really sucks and a few days ago my sis asked : ain't it hard to love these ferrets so much, yet have to lose them so soon? Yes, it is... but the question always remains

Is it better have loved and get hurt, opposed to not love at all?

When it comes down to my ferrets, I take the "getting hurt" part with it, because these fuzzies give me so much joy. Strangely enough - and when I think about it hard - I don't think I'm open for love myself, I automatically stay at a distance.

I've been hurt before - but not *that* bad - and yet there is that defense mechanism always kicking in. Last time I "confessed" my feelings to/for a certain someone, it didn't quite turn out into what I hoped it would. It did however turn out to what I expected. (Well, that's not really fair to say... I know very well the situation at the time was seriously fucked up, and although there seems to be better times ahead, I think we're a loooooong way from ever having a chance at it again. And that's all I want to say about it for now.)

We just dropped off Plush at the vets and after a quick check she was sheduled for surgery tomorrow morning around 9. Elly (the vet) said it didn't look too good, but depending on what exactly the problem is, surgery might be possible.

Anyway, not much there is to say about it right now, as there is no way to understand the exact situation before they open her up. I hope it all turns out to be benign and cureable, but Elly asked me what I would do in case they called me to make a decision. I answered flat out that the wellbeing of my ferrets is more important to me as anything else.

I'm heading off to bed early'ish since I gotta get up around 8 tomorrow. Hilda has been so good to give me a ride over to the vets practice to get a checkup on Plush, and we've got an appointement at 09h30. I've prepared a carrier to transport her, and it can act as a temporary recovery room as well.

She's not doing too well and I'm pretty sure that she'll be diagnosed with tumor(s), and the big question is whether surgery would still make sense. If it's just one big lump that hasn't spread out too much, I consider it good news. It's not been a good year for ferrets so far, and I'd hate to lose yet another one.

Well, more on it tomorrow I presume, even more on thursday - since that'll be the day she goes under the scalpel - if surgery is an option.

Next week I'll be babysitting little (or not so little) Alex for a full day. Yes, the same Alex who's my godson. I'm totally looking forward to it, and at the same time, I'm scared shitless about it.

I know nothing about kids! I can change a diaper and feed them (hey, that stuff ain't difficult) but there must be more to it, not? I know pretty much about ferrets, I know pretty much about computers, but kids? They don't come with a OFF-button, nor can you put them back in the cage when they don't behave or are tired.

So, women, please enlighten me : what do I need to know about kids (aproximately 2 years old)? I think I'm gonna take Alex to see Little Wabbit, damn... I'm good ;)

can it be to get a DNS update into your server, and keep the correct data in it? The new domain has been pointing to the correct IP address for the past 2 days, and it still was a few hours ago. I didn't change a thing, and I get back home from helping over at Jess and Johan's place and guess what : it points back to the old site!

It really pisses me off since that blocks my plans to update the new site and add more content to it. I can't even reach it by tracert, as it keeps timing out at fas-1-1-1-ias-be-ant-ar01.KPNbelgium.be [194.119.224.53]. Stupid fuckers!

I'm having a very nice and fresh raisin bread right now, and I've managed to sleep less than 2 hours or so. I ain't even seen my bed yet. Oh well... and I was reminded about 30 minutes ago that we're expected to work at Jess & Johan's place later this evening, something we all sorta forgot ot couse.

Speaking of evening, could somebody confirm or not whether Belgium has changed to Daylight Savings Time last night? Some devices show a time that is 1 hour earlier as others, but for some weird reason, my PC clock didn't update itself. I'm finding this all very strange!

(Just confirmed that we didn't go to Daylight Savings Time... it's bound to happen on 2003/10/26)

I'm sitting at Hilda's PC right now, and am still - obviously - at their place. The party has been very much fun, and we all had quite a lot to drink. Well, some of us had more then others, and it shows. I think I'm still the most sober one - apart from dad, but he didn't really stay long - although I had quite a lot too.

Hilda and Nadia crashed about an hour ago, and Jess decided not to fall asleep, but is currently soundly asleep in the couch. I dunno if she'll wake up in a few hours or not, but I don't think she should drive home (yet)...

I've just done some maintenance on the PC and am now - once again obviously - doing an update on friedkitten.com. Yeah, I'm the best :)

Oh, and before I forget : the BB girl is Gioia. No one was able to guess it correct, but she reminds me of someone very important to me (when it comes down to looks, not character). So, Little Wabbit, if read this : you're at least as cute - if not cuter - but you've got a much better character!!! I was glad to "run into" you on wednesday and have a chat. I think I'd like to stay in touch more ;)

[Todays title is a question from Jan to Nadia]

Seems like I suprised friend and foe with my favorite BB girl. Eef answered her mail, and this is what she wrote :

I was thinking Mathousca, but as you two (she's referring to Joco) never fall for the same type of woman, that seems unlikely.

Katja ain't your type, nor is Gioia, and a nerdy whiner like Peggy... I think I'll better shut up now

Love,
Eef

So... That leaves Vanessa, right? Well, it ain't her for sure. You're all wrong people, and somehow no one expected it I suppose. I'll tell you all when I get back from the party... so, that means tomorrow :)

I knew that would get everyones attention!

I'm expecting a call from my sister any minute now, and then we'll be off to our home town for some partying. Tomorrow I'll be at their place to help them out with some big (and heavy) windows that need to be moved around.

I've noticed a very big increase in searches for pictures of Mathousca from Big Brother (aka BB4). I don't have any pictures of Mathousca, people, and certainly none of her naked, showering or doing naughty things. So, while that settles the issue, it'll also drive the hits crazy I think. Besides, Mathousca ain't my favorite...

It's critical update time again : Microsoft released Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (828750) on october 3rd, which deals with problems in IE 5.01 - IE 5.5 - IE 6.0 and IE 6.0 for Windows Server 2003. You can find more info by searching for MS03-040 on the Microsoft site, or just clicking on the link I provided.

Another patch was released as well, this time for windows Media Player (versions 6.4, 7.1 and 9) in regard to WMP URL script commands. Take a look at knowledgebase article 828026

who I like most when it comes to the BB girls. That Katja ain't my favorite should be quite obvious by now, especially after that last post I did. Nadia voted for Sadia, but she wasn't in the game anymore, so that vote can't be accepted. Her second choice was Mathousca, so I'll go with that vote.

I agree with Joco (and Nadia) that Mathousca is nice, but she ain't my type of girl, and I figured Joco knew that? Well apparently he forgot :)

Let's see whose left then? Gioia, Katja - Mathousca, Peggy or Vanessa.

I think I'm gonna send an e-mail to Eef, she'll pick the right one out in a fraction of a second... or maybe I should ask Esther, she'd know it too. So, I'll anounce the result when Eef reads and answers her mail ;)

I really feel sorry for Joco and Jay... the dudes seem to have gone blind all of a sudden, or at least lost their taste in women - providing they had good taste to start with ;)

Has either of you heard Katja laugh? Have you seen her last night, drunk as I-don't-know-what? If any girl would be my worst nightmare, I think she'd get pretty close! She whines, complains that she can't handle it, and accomplishes nothing. I only hope she plays all of that, because if she's being her "true self", please make sure I never ever meet her!

So, Joco and Jay : you are as far from the correct answer as you could get. And because I am the asshole that I am, you can't vote anymore on this quiz! :D

It seems like a new day has begun, it started dawning a few minutes ago... for me it's still the same day though :)

I'm off to get some fresh bread, rolls, or whatever they have... yummy!

I really really hate propagation times, especially if I'm waiting for a DNS change to get to a server located at the other side of the world. I just changed the nameservers of one of my .be domains to point to my US server, and even though it changes are already listed on DNS.be, the US server hasn't picked up on the changes yet. It still sees the old nameservers, and thus can't create the needed mappings and redirections.

I've already uploaded a bunch of MT scripts for the new site, and although I'm not yet sure that I'll be using them to update the site when it goes live, it seems like the easiest way right now. After all, with some clever template hacking I can make the site look exactly like I want, and still keep all MT functions that I need/want.

I'm off to waste some time till the server picks up on those DNS changes. Last time I did a simple redirection/forward for 5 of my domains, it took nearly 48 hours to work. I really hope this baby is faster!

Update : About 2 hours after I initiated the DNS change the server in the USA picked it up and I was able to make the redirection changes. However, now I'm stuck again since my crappy local (Belgian) ISP has not yet picked up the change, and the site still reverts to the old one. Skynet, wake the fuck up and refresh your DNS files!

Seeing that it's 3h30 already and I had told myself to get to bed at a more acceptable time today, I have failed. In order to get my internal clock back on track, I'll do an all-nighter so I will go to bed tomorrow evening, which will hopefully result in sleeping like a log and wake up around 09h00 or so.

So..... Is anybody awake? I need people to entertain me while I go on all night!

Since some of you liked playing guessing games, here's another one... And yes, it's about girls again, this time the BB ladies. Who do you think is my favorite one?

Take a look at the BB site to see their photographs and profiles. Since not all of them are still in the game, here are the candidates :

Gioia - Katja - Mathousca - Peggy - Vanessa
(listed in the same order as on the BB site)

Votes are as always preferred in the comment section. I'm gonna give some of you a little tip though : the one I prefer looks (a bit) like little wabbit... in other words : hot! ;)