Sunday 18 December 2005

Mobs of Kangaroos

We went camping to Pebbly Beach this weekend, which is located in the Murramarang National Park about 4 hrs south of Sydney. Amazing beaches, rock platforms, gum forests, rainforest gullies and loads of kangaroos just lounging about in the hot hot sun. Thunder storms too, the first night there was an almighty one - lightning every 5 seconds and thunder which literally made the ground shake. Lying in a tiny tent, it was a quite an experience!

Click on the pic below to check out the weekend!



Not much other news though - managed to facture my arm last thursday; i was cycling down oxford st. and someone opened their car door without looking. I hit the doot at full pelt and ended up in the middle of the road with a VERY sore elbow! Broke the sunglasses i'd brought earlier that day too :-(
Have officially finished with Avanade, i am now on holiday until January 9th when I start contracting with Colonial First State. Not an easy decision, but the IT market is very good in Sydney at moment, and it is the ideal time to go contracting.
Going on holiday to Jervis bay for Xmas with a load of friends, then the Opera bar for New Years eve. Should have a great view from there.

Mobs of Kangaroos

We went camping to Pebbly Beach this weekend, which is located in the Murramarang National Park about 4 hrs south of Sydney. Amazing beaches, rock platforms, gum forests, rainforest gullies and loads of kangaroos just lounging about in the hot hot sun. Thunder storms too, the first night there was an almighty one - lightning every 5 seconds and thunder which literally made the ground shake. Lying in a tiny tent, it was a quite an experience!

Click on the pic below to check out the weekend!



Not much other news though - managed to facture my arm last thursday; i was cycling down oxford st. and someone opened their car door without looking. I hit the doot at full pelt and ended up in the middle of the road with a VERY sore elbow! Broke the sunglasses i'd brought earlier that day too :-(
Have officially finished with Avanade, i am now on holiday until January 9th when I start contracting with Colonial First State. Not an easy decision, but the IT market is very good in Sydney at moment, and it is the ideal time to go contracting.
Going on holiday to Jervis bay for Xmas with a load of friends, then the Opera bar for New Years eve. Should have a great view from there.

Sunday 27 November 2005

Eiffel Tower Panorama

Panorama from the top of the Eiffel tower. Smart.

Here's another from the blue mountains

Eiffel Tower Panorama

Panorama from the top of the Eiffel tower. Smart.

Here's another from the blue mountains

Wednesday 16 November 2005

Make google more interesting

Recently discovered a technique to craft google search queries inorder that they list the contents of unprotected directories on the internet. This allows you to directly access any music files, videos, pics etc.

An unprotected web directory is one that does not have an “index” file created for it, i.e "index.htm" or "index.html" or some other file type. If you try to access a non-password controlled directory that does not have an index file, the system will build a listing of files that are within the directory. If you get that, you can then access the files/folders directly.

So, need to construct a Google search query that searches for and recognizes these system built directory pages.

For starters, here is a google query that will give you a search results page of unprotected directories:



But, this is very vague - too many unknown program files, text files, web pages etc. To filter it down, you can look for something in the name of a file in the list, or by the file type, or both.

For example, this query tries to find any types of files about Jennifer Lopez. Within the directories you can see music, image and movie files.


To search any movie files (.wmv or.avi or .mpg):




or music files (.mp3 or .wma):



or images in (.jpg or .gif):



You can get more specific by specifying both the file types and a search word to hopefully find in the name. For example, the following query looks for the infamous Paris Hilton video tape:



Or, you can even take a guess at the file name someone might call it:


Make using google alot more interesting and I've found some well weird stuff up on the net!

Make google more interesting

Recently discovered a technique to craft google search queries inorder that they list the contents of unprotected directories on the internet. This allows you to directly access any music files, videos, pics etc.

An unprotected web directory is one that does not have an “index” file created for it, i.e "index.htm" or "index.html" or some other file type. If you try to access a non-password controlled directory that does not have an index file, the system will build a listing of files that are within the directory. If you get that, you can then access the files/folders directly.

So, need to construct a Google search query that searches for and recognizes these system built directory pages.

For starters, here is a google query that will give you a search results page of unprotected directories:



But, this is very vague - too many unknown program files, text files, web pages etc. To filter it down, you can look for something in the name of a file in the list, or by the file type, or both.

For example, this query tries to find any types of files about Jennifer Lopez. Within the directories you can see music, image and movie files.


To search any movie files (.wmv or.avi or .mpg):




or music files (.mp3 or .wma):



or images in (.jpg or .gif):



You can get more specific by specifying both the file types and a search word to hopefully find in the name. For example, the following query looks for the infamous Paris Hilton video tape:



Or, you can even take a guess at the file name someone might call it:


Make using google alot more interesting and I've found some well weird stuff up on the net!

Tuesday 8 November 2005

New Gaff

Some pics from our new place :


New Gaff

Some pics from our new place :


Monday 24 October 2005

Old Jokes Home

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make, is taking a stroll down his local high street. As he passes by the record shop, a sign catches his eye. "Just Released - New LP - Wasps of the World & the sounds that they make - available now"

Unable to resist the temptation, Brian goes into the shop. "I am the world's leading
expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make. I'd very much like to listen to the new LP you have advertised in the window."

"Certainly, Sir," says the young man behind the counter. "If you'd like to step into
the booth and put on the headphones, I'll put the LP on for you."

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps, goes into the booth and puts on the earphones. Ten minutes later, he comes out of the booth and announces, "I am the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make and yet I recognised none of those."

"I'm sorry Sir", says the young assistant. "If you'd care to step into the booth, I can let you have another 10 minutes."

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds they make, steps back into the booth and replaces the headphones. Ten minutes later, he comes out of the booth shaking his head. "I don't understand it", he says, "I am the worlds leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make, and yet I still can't recognise any of those!"

"I really am terribly sorry", says the young assistant...

"I've just realised I was playing you the bee side!"

Old Jokes Home

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make, is taking a stroll down his local high street. As he passes by the record shop, a sign catches his eye. "Just Released - New LP - Wasps of the World & the sounds that they make - available now"

Unable to resist the temptation, Brian goes into the shop. "I am the world's leading
expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make. I'd very much like to listen to the new LP you have advertised in the window."

"Certainly, Sir," says the young man behind the counter. "If you'd like to step into
the booth and put on the headphones, I'll put the LP on for you."

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps, goes into the booth and puts on the earphones. Ten minutes later, he comes out of the booth and announces, "I am the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make and yet I recognised none of those."

"I'm sorry Sir", says the young assistant. "If you'd care to step into the booth, I can let you have another 10 minutes."

Brian, the world's leading expert on European wasps and the sounds they make, steps back into the booth and replaces the headphones. Ten minutes later, he comes out of the booth shaking his head. "I don't understand it", he says, "I am the worlds leading expert on European wasps and the sounds that they make, and yet I still can't recognise any of those!"

"I really am terribly sorry", says the young assistant...

"I've just realised I was playing you the bee side!"

Monday 3 October 2005

Parklife

Haven't updated this in awhile as i've been busy learning to use crutches. Broke my tibial pleateau playing football very unskillfully last week so...

Moving apartments again this week is going to be a hassle; it has been a total nightmare to sort out so far. It will be the 8th place i've lived in Sydney.

Went to Parklife festival yesterday. Despite having to hobble around everywhere, it was a fun day out and good to see everyone again







Check out these quarters from hell. Impressive.

Parklife

Haven't updated this in awhile as i've been busy learning to use crutches. Broke my tibial pleateau playing football very unskillfully last week so...

Moving apartments again this week is going to be a hassle; it has been a total nightmare to sort out so far. It will be the 8th place i've lived in Sydney.

Went to Parklife festival yesterday. Despite having to hobble around everywhere, it was a fun day out and good to see everyone again







Check out these quarters from hell. Impressive.

Wednesday 14 September 2005

Ironnutters

I was just wondering what there is to do after a marathon - and came across the ironmanoz website. The course details are a 3.8km sea swim, followed by a short 180km cycle, followed by a 42km run round the block for good measure. You'd have to be superman to even think about doing that. But even more staggering is the course record for all that; a mind-bogglingly fast 8hrs 6 mins..

Ironnutters

I was just wondering what there is to do after a marathon - and came across the ironmanoz website. The course details are a 3.8km sea swim, followed by a short 180km cycle, followed by a 42km run round the block for good measure. You'd have to be superman to even think about doing that. But even more staggering is the course record for all that; a mind-bogglingly fast 8hrs 6 mins..

Sunday 11 September 2005

Marathon runner

Did the Sydney marathon yesterday, which physically, was by far and away the toughest thing i've ever had to do in my life. 42km's of up and down roads.

Finishing :



Well earned beer :

Marathon runner

Did the Sydney marathon yesterday, which physically, was by far and away the toughest thing i've ever had to do in my life. 42km's of up and down roads.

Finishing :



Well earned beer :

Saturday 27 August 2005

Paypal scams

Like everyone else I get these PayPal scams with annoying regularity, and I've developed a quick and very efficient technique to help thwart these bastards, which I'd like to share:

1) First, understand how to identify a Paypal scam email. You can do that by visiting here. The most important thing to understand is that you can make a hyperlink say anything you want. It's the underlying URL that's important. In most email clients, if you mouse over the link, you'l get a tooltip that shows you the real link URL. If it is anything else except "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr/?cmd=_login-run ", then you can BET its a scam.

2) Do a whois lookup on the domain of the target url. This usually only takes a minute. Now you know who the domain is registered to. This is usually, but not always, the perpetrator. In many cases, you can actually get their name, address, and contact email!

3) At this point, what I usually do is trace back to the nameservers or do a Tracert (DOS COMMAND: Tracert www.badguy.com ) to find out where its landing. The last entry in the traceroute list before the actual target IP Is usually the domain of the hosting company.

4) Then, i forward the spam email to abuse@thehostingcompany.com with a note that they are hosting a Paypal scammer and they should fix it. Usually, if they are reputable, they will put the guy out of business within 5 mins. I just did one to somebody from menage-paypal.com that turned out to be hosted in Poland, and I got a thank you reply within minutes.

5) you can of course forward the errant email (preferably with the full email headers) to spoof@paypal.com. However, they are pretty overloaded, so a little vigilante-ism as above can certainly help!

If more people do what I describe above, or similar actions, we can all help to make it very unprofitable for the spammers to even try anymore.

The moral of the story is:

Everything is not always what it seems, so be aware. There really are people out there who will use every trick in the book they can to get at you.

Paypal scams

Like everyone else I get these PayPal scams with annoying regularity, and I've developed a quick and very efficient technique to help thwart these bastards, which I'd like to share:

1) First, understand how to identify a Paypal scam email. You can do that by visiting here. The most important thing to understand is that you can make a hyperlink say anything you want. It's the underlying URL that's important. In most email clients, if you mouse over the link, you'l get a tooltip that shows you the real link URL. If it is anything else except "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr/?cmd=_login-run ", then you can BET its a scam.

2) Do a whois lookup on the domain of the target url. This usually only takes a minute. Now you know who the domain is registered to. This is usually, but not always, the perpetrator. In many cases, you can actually get their name, address, and contact email!

3) At this point, what I usually do is trace back to the nameservers or do a Tracert (DOS COMMAND: Tracert www.badguy.com ) to find out where its landing. The last entry in the traceroute list before the actual target IP Is usually the domain of the hosting company.

4) Then, i forward the spam email to abuse@thehostingcompany.com with a note that they are hosting a Paypal scammer and they should fix it. Usually, if they are reputable, they will put the guy out of business within 5 mins. I just did one to somebody from menage-paypal.com that turned out to be hosted in Poland, and I got a thank you reply within minutes.

5) you can of course forward the errant email (preferably with the full email headers) to spoof@paypal.com. However, they are pretty overloaded, so a little vigilante-ism as above can certainly help!

If more people do what I describe above, or similar actions, we can all help to make it very unprofitable for the spammers to even try anymore.

The moral of the story is:

Everything is not always what it seems, so be aware. There really are people out there who will use every trick in the book they can to get at you.

Tuesday 9 August 2005

Did you know

that Windows has a party mode?

Did you know

that Windows has a party mode?

Monday 8 August 2005

Underwater Motorbike at Shelly Beach

I've heard alot about this but wasn't sure whether to believe it or not; a motorbike dumped quite a way out from the shoreline at Shelly Beach. On saturday the water was crystal clear and after a few attempts i finally spotted it.

Underwater Motorbike at Shelly Beach

I've heard alot about this but wasn't sure whether to believe it or not; a motorbike dumped quite a way out from the shoreline at Shelly Beach. On saturday the water was crystal clear and after a few attempts i finally spotted it.

Saturday 30 July 2005

Sharks!


Spotted down Shelly beach, some Port Jackson sharks

Sharks!


Spotted down Shelly beach, some Port Jackson sharks

Thursday 28 July 2005

Old Jokes' Home


A man goes to the doctor and says,

"Doctor, I'm having trouble with my hearing".

"What are the symptoms?" asks the doctor.

The man replies, "A yellow TV cartoon family".

Old Jokes' Home


A man goes to the doctor and says,

"Doctor, I'm having trouble with my hearing".

"What are the symptoms?" asks the doctor.

The man replies, "A yellow TV cartoon family".

Wednesday 27 July 2005

San Andreas Graffiti

Check this Grand Theft Auto graffiti out - just on the wall near our apartment. Well smart.

San Andreas Graffiti

Check this Grand Theft Auto graffiti out - just on the wall near our apartment. Well smart.

Tuesday 28 June 2005

Google Sight Seeing




Google has hugely expanded the areas of the world that it covers with satellite imagery. Egypt, Iraq, mainland Europe and the UK have all now got satellite coverage to a lesser or greater degree. You can now go see sights like Buckingham Palace or the Arc de Triomphe from the comfort of your own swivelchairs. Iraq in particular seems to have a large number of high-zoom areas. I just looked up the Baghdad Parade Grounds where Saddam used to take the salute and other towns like Fallujah are also there.

some other good google map links :

  • Hollywood sign
  • Uluru
  • Teotihuacán Pyramids
  • Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio
  • My house

    This is so compulsive!
  • Google Sight Seeing




    Google has hugely expanded the areas of the world that it covers with satellite imagery. Egypt, Iraq, mainland Europe and the UK have all now got satellite coverage to a lesser or greater degree. You can now go see sights like Buckingham Palace or the Arc de Triomphe from the comfort of your own swivelchairs. Iraq in particular seems to have a large number of high-zoom areas. I just looked up the Baghdad Parade Grounds where Saddam used to take the salute and other towns like Fallujah are also there.

    some other good google map links :

  • Hollywood sign
  • Uluru
  • Teotihuacán Pyramids
  • Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio
  • My house

    This is so compulsive!
  • Sunday 26 June 2005

    Summer 2004 reminder

    Continuing to try and put some of the many thousands of pics i've accumulated over the last 3 years online, here are some from the last 6 months-

    Summer 2004 reminder

    Continuing to try and put some of the many thousands of pics i've accumulated over the last 3 years online, here are some from the last 6 months-

    Lightning in Sydney