journal

When you’re a kid, you have a lot of heroes you look up to.

This guy is one of my many heroes when me and my brother were growing up:

I needed to add a DDL button code of a high traffic network to the forum.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Edit your theme’s index.template.php file.

2. Peruse through the code and check where you want to put the button.

On mine, I’d like it on the footer so it will be non-obtrusive to the site’s overall appearance, plus I may add more in the future so that area is quite flexible for that purpose.

I’m using a customized SMF default theme, so look for

<div id="footarea"...

That’s where all the “Powered by” buttons reside.

And inside that, there will be a table.

So just add another table row so as not to mess up the default “Powered by” buttons already present there, and add your button code:

<tr>

   <td valign="middle" align="center" style="white-space: nowrap;" colspan="3">

      <!-- start katz.cd code -->

      <a href="http://katz.cd/" target="_blank"><b><img src="http://static.katznet.com/but/kd1.gif" title=" Katz Downloads - http://katz.cd/ " alt="RapidShare search" width="88" height="31" border="0" /></b></a>

      <!-- end katz.cd code -->

   </td>

</tr>

3. Save and refresh then check your handiwork.

Remember you are editing a PHP  file, not HTML so be careful not to venture outside the PHP syntax and just tack in your HTML code and expect it to work.

Look for a large area where all you see is HTML code and it may be safe to place it there.

Otherwise the syntax on how to add HTML code to PHP is just to `echo` it, like so:

echo '<h1>Example HTML code inside PHP</h1>';

That’s it!

This is what I was working with circa 1988.

Must be the reason why I’m more akin to coding than the point-n-click “Windows” generation.

Then again, maybe not. I might have gravitated towards security nonetheless.

It’s almost 3 AM and I can’t seem to get my mind to work.

I used to like working vampire hours.

Compiling programs, pentesting, messing with Perl…

Maybe because the environment is not that conducive. People are all around me and I can hear them talk about the mundane.

Maybe I need to focus on just one project. I’m doing too many things at the same time and now I’m ending up not doing anything productive on any of them.

…

Then again, fuck that. I’m tired. Might as well finish my full tilt game.

I have the service here in Pasig. Globe Broadband DSL + landline for 2mbps since 2006 December.

For the longest time we have been having connection problems. Most of it disconnections.

Here’s the symptom:

You turn on the computer. Turn on the modem. You get 4 lights.

The connection does not happen instantly. You have to wait for 2 minutes (I timed it) to get Internet access. That used to be instant when you get 4 lights on the modem. That only happened for the first few months when we started the service. After that you’d have to wait.

Now you’re surfing then suddenly you cannot connect anymore.

You look at the modem, the 4th light is steady and not blinking (if you have an active connection this should be blinking as I have observed).

Then you lose the 4th light just like that. You now only have the Power, LAN and ADSL. No light on the Internet indicator.

Then you’d have to wait.

What I do is I go into the browser-based configuration (192.168.1.1) then submit a Diagnostics check.

It goes through the list, most of them PASSED. Then you get to the Primary DNS and it fails. Bummer.

Sometimes I reboot the modem. Most of the time I just wait. 10+ minutes pass. Then the 4th light starts to blink again. You get a steady 4th light. After 2 minutes you can connect again. Nice.

You surf the net, then it disconnects again after some time.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

This happens multiple times throughout the day. We haven’t had any day where the connection was stable at all.

I don’t have the energy to keep calling them. When you call them you wait with that stupid phone music that they have. Then a CSR answers and goes through all the dumbing steps like checking the lines, lights, etc. etc. Most of the time you’re told to wait. Some times they do send “technicians” over.

One time I got really pissed and gave them a piece of my mind.

Now most of the technicians that come over are pretty respectful.

The last time they had a tech come in, I wasn’t here.

Then my mom calls me and tells me that she was told that the phone lines we’re using for the extension is wrong. We should be using the black one. I don’t know what black one he’s talking about. If he’s talking about the thick phone wires coming from the telephone pole going to your home then he must be out of his mind. How the hell can you crimp an RJ11 phone jack on that? Try to shop for phone extensions on your nearest hardware retail store and they have only one kind of phone line.

And we can connect without any problems with that line (on the rare days when their service is up). So if that was wrong since the beginning then we wouldn’t have any Internet connection at all, correct?

So today, just like any normal Globe Broadband day, I got disconnected again.

I checked the lines. And I noticed something was odd. From the CO it goes to a splitter where the dumb tech connects the modem line AND the phone. Is this insane or what? It was recommended that the line should go straight to the modem and the phone should get it’s feed from the modem - not split directly from the line because this will cause problems. They changed the connections!

If this is the level of competency Globe techs have well…

So I reverted it back to its usual connection, rebooted the modem, got the 4 lights. I can surf again.

Now I don’t know how long this connection will hold before it disconnects again.

I don’t have the time nor the energy to switch to a different provider and receive the same “support”. I know there’s no perfect ISP. Damn phone companies.

So here we are. Stuck with Globe Disconnectband for I don’t know how long.

I decided to just write this up publicly because I am so tired of dealing with their support.

I know there are countless others out there suffering from their ISPs. Just check out pinoydsl.com and you’ll see.

For now well, I just have to stay with it until I can get enough energy to call them. Again.

You can’t play a decent game  on this crappy connection. My hand gets folded on every disconnect. Crap.

Why do some people have cop out attitudes?

It’s Monday 5AM. And this guy approaches me like he’s king shit. The other one too.

Ok, in you go to my hit list.

wrangler 205s (2) - 6k+
suspension parts repair/replacements - 18k

at least my affiliates are earning so that evens that up. much lower now than before though. haven’t been focusing much on it for the past year or so. still not sure if i can place the ads on my forum. don’t want to disappoint the 5k+ members. they might think that i sold out. at least hosting is covered by my other gigs.

todo:
- clean up affiliates - get rid of those that are not earning and focus on the ones that are (amazon, aff still rocks)

Now everyone who really knows me (including my wife) knows that I do not believe in a god or gods since beginning high school.

This argument is not really that strong here in the Philippines (where almost everyone is a believer save for some like me).

This is a fun review if you don’t like to read books.

And as a bonus, an interview with Bertrand Russell:

What can I say? We’ve been waiting for him since forever. Finally got to meet my son a couple of weeks ago. Me and my wife have mastered the art of washing, sterilizing, preparing his milk, changing diapers, and all the tasks a new parent entails. We’ve set a shifting schedule amongst ourselves. I took the night shift so Che can rest and heal from her c-section.

It’s not that hard. I even enjoy it even if we only get a few hours of sleep a day.

You can see more of John Thomas “Moty” from my Flickr.

http://exploits.offensive-security.com/

similar to milw0rm.com

nice…