Monthly Archives: February 2005

blacklist_to_modsec 1.1

blacklist_to_modsec 1.1 has a few useful changes:

* When updating from the ‘Latest Changes’ URL, the script now checks each change against the existing blacklist to see if it would have any effect. Only those changes which would cause a net difference in the existing blacklist are applied.
* The script now logs each change that is made to the existing blacklist when it is running an update.

As before, please share any questions, comments, or suggestions.

***Download and documentation here|http://prwdot.org/docs/blacklisttomodsec.html***

Category Enhancements

In an ongoing effort to make our site more useful, and to expose more of Movable Type’s built-in power, I have added a few enhancements to our blog categories. Each category now has its own Trackback URL, which means that you can have your blog software send it a ping, if you have some reason to do so. Also, each category now has its own RSS feed. So if you are only interested in updates to one specific category, you can subscribe just to that category’s feed, rather than our full site feeds. Both of these enhancements can be found at the top of each category archive page, for example, on the recently-created ***Blacklist to Modsec|http://prwdot.org/archives/cat_blacklist_to_modsec.html*** category page.

blacklist_to_modsec 1.0

I’ve made a pretty big overhaul to ***blacklist_to_modsec|http://prwdot.org/docs/blacklisttomodsec.html***, my script for converting ***Jay Allen|http://www.jayallen.org/***’s master blacklist into ***mod_security|http://www.modsecurity.org/*** rules. Using blacklist_to_modsec with mod_security can help protect your blog from comment or trackback spam, whether you’re using WordPress, Movable Type, or something else. If you’re interested, read on.
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It won’t be just me who’ll miss him

On Sunday evening a very good friend of mine passed away. He was my first sunday school teacher, my first ‘date’, a practical joker and a strong man of God.

Charlie and I were born on the same day, January 10th… 58 years apart. We spent 15 of our birthdays together…having dinner at the Riverside Restaurant in Milford, New Hampshire.

This January we didn’t get to have dinner. Charlie was in the hospital and it was becoming clearer that although he had been ill for a while, this was much more serious.

I think that most people who knew him would tell you that his suffering was now over and that death came as a respite from a long disease. He was a wonderfully humble man who’s concern for others went far beyond his concern for himself. Now, upon his death, his wife has passed along the message that he did not want calling hours or a funeral service. Humble even in death.

Over the years Charlie has taught me much about life and love and faith. He is continuing to teach me lessons. I am learning how to react and go on when a loved one dies. I’m learning that there isn’t always a convenient opportunity to say goodbye.

*edited to add link*
Here’s the ***article|http://www.townsendtimes.com/Stories/0,1413,112~6019~2701051,00.html*** in the Townsend Times.

Learning To Ski

My very first day on skis at ***Sunday River|http://www.sundayriver.com/*** was actually not that bad. Considering that many people have been trying for so very long to get me to learn how to ski, and that this was such a momentous occasion for me, I am giving it its due weight. Read on for all of the details…
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Super Bowl Sunday

Becky and I are half-watching the Super Bowl. We’re trying to see as many of the commercials as we can, and picking up on some of the plays of the game. Neither of us are football fans… but unless you are comfortable being a pariah here in New England, you have to at least catch some of the game. There have been some good commercials so far… including another Apple iTunes + Pepsi promotion.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready for our trip tomorrow to ***Sunday River|http://www.sundayriver.com/*** in Bethel, Maine. Yes, after 26 years, I’m finally going to (try to) learn how to ski. ***Corey|http://corey.prwdot.org/*** got us some gift certificates for Christmas, so the three of us are going to head out tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. to try and get the most out of the day. I’m signed up to take a beginner’s ski lesson at 10 a.m., from a real live professional instructor, and hopefully I’ll at least be able to handle some bunny slopes. I will be sure to take some photos (maybe even a video!), so that I can share the experience with the rest of you. Wish me luck!

13+

If the title describes your age then you should see ***Hotel Rwanda|http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/intro.html***.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we walked into the theater. The movie has been receiving good reviews and ***Don Cheadle|http://imdb.com/name/nm0000332/*** and ***Sophie Okonedo|http://imdb.com/name/nm0645683/*** have been nominated for several awards for their performances, but I was still skeptical. I think that I was worried that the film was being revered for its topic instead of its virtues as a movie.

What I discovered, was a movie that held its own. The story of Paul Rusesabagina and his Oskar Schindler-like harboring of Hutu and Tutsi refugees in Kigali, Rwanda in 1994 was more than poignant, it touched me to the core.

I was 15 in 1994 and I remember hearing about the genocide in Rwanda. I remember thinking that it was horrible that no one was interveining in the chaos. I was not however as ashamed to be an American as I was last night watching this movie. The blatent disregard for human life by the West was shocking and shameful. Yet, even while surrounded by hate, Rusesabagina was able to keep a brave face for his family and the 900 guests at his hotel.

I wonder, if faced with the life or death situation that Rusesabagina was in, if I could muster the courage to save so many lives?

The tears flowed several times during this movie, and while I walked though the theater lobby, and during the car ride home… and even after I was tucked into bed. Even now, 24 hours later, thinking about it, tears come to my eyes.

Despite the emotional distress that the movie sparked in me, I wouldn’t hesitate to see it again. This emotional journey should be taken by everyone. Seeing a number of true heros stand up for what they believe in is simply inspiring. If anything was going to inspire you to charity work, public service, or to join the Peace Corps, this is it.

Under The Hood

I’ve recently been doing some ‘under the hood’ tweaking to prwdot.org, to make things run smoother, easier, faster, etc. If you are interested in technical stuff, and the mere mention of ‘code samples’ makes your ears perk up, then you might enjoy reading on to see what I’ve done and to offer comments, suggestions, or questions…
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Clone Him

“Don’t you think that Daisies are the friendliest flowers?” -Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly in “You’ve Got Mail”

Ever have one of those days when Fate tells you not to get out of bed… only to kick you in the shins once you do get up? That’s today. I can’t say that anything particularly horrible has happened, just a string of annoying little things that add up to one crummy-feeling me. Why oh why did I get out of bed this morning?

Because he loves me, my Peter decided to cheer me up by sending a lovely little basket of daisies to my workplace. They make me smile. I only wish I had been at the door when the delivery man came. I always miss the exciting moments here at work!

A co-worker from upstairs inquired about the flowers and, upon hearing they were from my husband, said, “clone him!”

Those Crazy Celts

Last night, Becky and I watched the Boston Celtics cream the New Jersey Nets at the ***FleetCenter|http://www.fleetcenter.com/***. Becky’s dad got some cheap tickets at work, so we sat up in Balcony section 327 with a number of, shall we say, colorful fans. Honestly, neither Becky or I are basketball fans, but we don’t pass up an opportunity to hang out with family, or to go somewhere fun, or to laugh at drunk morons. So a good time was had by all, and once again, we had free parking downtown thanks to the ***Otis House|http://www.historicnewengland.org/visit/homes/otis.htm***.

I’ve put some ***photos|http://gallery.prwdot.org/celtics_20050202*** online for anyone who is interested.

Good Grief
There’s been a bad link in this entry for over 48 hours… but nobody has mentioned it, and I didn’t even realize it until I was checking my web server logs just now. So either nobody cared enough to (read the entry|click on the link), or everyone thought that I was aware of it. Heh. Silly me!