Security warning. The site’s been hacked! (Yes, we’re popular enough to get hacks these days. Amazing isn’t it).
We’ll be on-and-offline while I fix the security holes and check if my logs tell me anything about this attacker.
I’ll keep you all updated on the progress I’m making in cleaning up this ungodly mess.
Update:
The injection of code happened on all levels of the wordpress blog. The actual injection was of a php file on a site called firstbizhost.com, which belongs to a certain Wasinthorn Itthijinda from Bangkok.
I have little doubt he (or someone with access to his hosting provider) has had at least 48 hours to collect data so change your passwords for your accounts, even your facebook. I’m still reviewing the logs to determine how he got the php script there.
The 18th this month (this past Tuesday) was Draw Muhammed Day. There were over 10000 entries submitted to the Facebook group made for just this lovely reason.
Oooh.. look! It’s a whole planet of 3nglish speakers. How do you like dem apples? Now all together, people:
Happy 10th Anniversary, 3nglish.co.uk!
Yep. 10 years of reporting on and supporting of #English on IRCnet. Hell of a ride, man. Hell of a ride. I’ve been hugely busy at my parents in law [as some of you know], but I had a few weekends to myself – so I created this as a fitting tribute to a website everyone said’d die when t-bo left.
As you can see I’ve kind of made the website a lot simpler. I’m still working on a few things [see below], but this is the functional design replacing the old one which was just filling up with junk really.
The feeling of the site’s changed from something up close and personal to far away reflection – which suits me fine. Having a space motif lends itself better than any to the crass foreign looking aliens inhabiting our IRC channel. Since I’m pretty much a SciFi geek I thought it’d be fitting to use it too, as I am basically the main contributor and final editor / god of both the website and the channel [though some people might disagree since I've been much of an absent landlord lately].
All in all, after stripping the previous design I’m left with what you see here. This is as minimal as it’ll get. Since I no longer have much time for blogging or chatting with people I’ll limit myself to the occasional post and working on hunting the bugs in the system. The offer to contribute still remains open for any who wish to try their hand at blogging and or writing short stories of course, so don’t hesitate to sign up. and drop me a comment or a line via the contact form.
I’ll also be encouraging user interaction using some additions like an image upload and perhaps a link to #english that will get the images posted as urls in the chat.
As you can see there’s a red ‘I’ for IRC chat access via mibbit. It works better than the last one we had there. Also, the profile menu will expand in functionality as I continue development of this theme.
A few quick notes:
Login issues persist because of teh facebook gheys. I’m working on it.
Check out that funky search and the new user Profile. More will appear there, but this is v1.
WHAR IS IMAGES, WHARR?
NSFW content is disabled by default.
Still working on a few things like a wiki icon etc. So far, it looks like the previous database has collapsed. I’ll have to do some serious work on fixing what we’ve lost one of these days.
There will be variable background images as mentioned in the blurb above.
Oh, I’m terribly sorry chaps. Teh gravatars – they is broken.
I’ve used a ton of little bits of php and jQuery to tie it all together. There might still be some minor changes, but i’m working on solving most RFCs. Also, expect more images and video content too, as I pipe in the newest logs to bring the site up to date again later on this week. 3nglish has by and large been a solo effort by me though, so don’t expect miracles soon in this department. I’ve got enough bugs to hunt and problems to fix as well as blog posts to write!
The war is on! The internet, being the catalyst for change, has revolted against the establishment again. This time it’s target is Simon Cowell and the X-Factor Christmas song.
Each year since 2005 the winner of the British number one Christmas single has been an X-Factor song of boundless mediocrity. Bookies have even stopped taking bets on who will win because the expectation is that the X-Factor choice of song will beat all other rivals. This year, however, might be different.
A Facebook group, led by Jon and Tracy Morter and aptly named ‘RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS NO.1‘ has sprung up, ready to battle for the U.K.’s Christmas number one single spot. Surprisingly, the 1993 hit Killing in the Name by Rage against the Machine now has a real chance of becoming the Christmas number one for 2009.
… bookies have been forced to admit that Rage Against The Machine have overtaken artists such as Leona Lewis, Robbie Williams and Susan Boyle to become the second most likely to be Number One this Christmas.
The Facebook group already has well over 400,000 members and is growing by the second. Mainstream media such as Channel 5 and BBC Radio 1 have already broadcast reports on the group and twitter is .. uh .. a-twitter about it as well. People from all across the U.K. are being urged to buy the single on the 13th of December to coincide with the release of the Cowell-sanctioned X-Factor single.
So, if you live in the U.K. I urge you to join the Facebook group (by visiting http://bit.ly/inthename) and get the Rage against the Machine single (for less than the price of a pint of ale) on the 13th to confound Cowell and the mediocrity that is the braindrain on talent in Britain.
Over the next few weeks, perhaps months, I’m going to review a few games which I’ve been playing recently.
These will be put into two categories; Facebook Games and Other Browser Games.
I’m always in need of a gaming buzz and although I personally find stand alone games such as the Fallout series more satisfying than anything a browser has to offer, I none the less find that playing a game which requires no installation has it’s goodness too.
So far there are 3 main places I look for games; Facebook, Kongregate and Bigpoint, all of which deal with Flash based game engines.
Unique opportunities
All gaming portals will try to offer it’s own uniqueness to entice the gamer to return time and time again and in these instances they are thus:
Facebook As most of you know Facebook is a social networking site where the users can ‘socially network’ with other users. Once your details are entered into it’s bulging system you then get let loose on what it has to offer, one of which are games.
The good thing about playing games on Facebook is that, if applied correctly, the games will inherit your user details where required so you don’t have to worry about re-registering to play a game.
This in itself is not unique to Facebook, but is quite unique to the social networking genre in general.
Kongregate If you develop flash games then you will have heard of this site, without a doubt. It is a website that offers over 15000 gaming experiences to its users free of charge.
Kongregate’s uniqueness is that, once you have setup an account with them you, the user, gain levels and badges to show your elite gaming skillz. I am currently at level 8 which is no major feat. “Why gain levels”, I hear you cry? Well why not! It shows to other players that you have stayed the course and have given your soul over to Kongregate.
Most, but not all, of the games submitted to this site are by professional game developers who quite possibly hold a main job away from the gaming community but have an inner voice telling them that they must persist in entertaining bods like me to gain a place in game developers heaven.
There is also a feature on Kongregate that allows you to purchase Kreds. These Kreds are how you thank the developer for the game. It’s simple; you tip the developer, he/she gets paid REAL money.
All in all it’s a great place for both ends of the gaming process and I highly recommend it.
Bigpoint Bigpoint aren’t that unique by any means, but the games they have to offer appeal to my particular nature – flashy looking bite sized games for peeps like me.
Although I’m only playing one of their games at the moe, I have dabbled in others by them and I have to say they’re quite diverse.
This concludes the introduction to my next project here on 3nglish.co.uk, be sure to return when I’ll be giving you my personal reflections on my first feature; Dark Orbit. Until then, happy gaming and may the force be with you.
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