So I was reading today's MX (it's a newspaper) on the train this afternoon. As I flipped through it, I couldn't help reading the "DOCTOR DOTCOM" section, where people write in with IT problems and receive advice from the resident "expert". They're usually incredibly basic as well as being thinly veiled advertisements, but this one just made me laugh (image link).

Here's a brief synopsis:*

Question:
Help me DOCTOR DOTCOM! I can't install spyware / antivirus tools or navigate web pages, what ever should I do?

DOCTOR DOTCOM:
Never fear innocent user, for I will save you. Simply go to these various websites and install the anti-spyware tools from there. Then you can use them to scan your computer and all shall be swell!

Question: But... err... I just told you, I ca-

DD: DOCTOR DOTCOM SAVES THE DAY ONCE AGAIN!!!
* theme music plays *

* slightly paraphrased

... as someone on the unicycle game high scores table so thoughtfully pointed out.

I knew this to be true already, but to be honest when creating my flash game I really had no idea what I could do to make the high score submissions secure. I also had no idea it would be so huge, so I thought nobody would bother trying to cheat.

After doing probably the most lame of all cryptography subjects last semester, I did at least learn some stuff about security. So I've updated it, and am farily confident that it's now un-crackable now it's much harder to crack. I've had to reset the score table for fairness sake, my apologies to those who legitimately had a high score.

Update: OK so you can never be entirely secure with flash [insert image of me eating my own words here].

Update #2: Score submission is back up, but please don't try hacking it - it spoils the fun for legitimate players. Also, I set up logging so that even if someone hacks it I will have a record of previous highscores that I can restore.

Well, I never thought I'd have to deal with bandwidth issues, since my site used to get maybe 10 visits per day. But in the past week I've had over 500 unique hits per day, and managed to hit the 2GB limit last night. I pleaded with my host to let me have a little more this month, so the site is back up. I've decided to take down my animations for now, because they were taking up about half my bandwidth. I hope to get them back sometime soon, and any help with this would be appreciated.

Update: I've successfully submitted my movies to the Internet Archive, who are now kindly hosting them for free.

Drivey is a game-in-progress that greatly pleases my inner graphic designer. The graphics are made to be simple and nostalgic, yet are very pleasing to the eyes. It's like the gaming equivalent of vector art. Try out the demo and see for yourself, because static screenshots can't really do it justice.

This blog is strangely awesome. Found via Neatly Sliced.
Here's an extract:

Adjusting my spectacles
I became aware that my spectacles were not sitting quite correctly on my nose. Using my hand I moved them slightly, thereby making them feel more comfortable. This adjustment completed I continued with my activities.

The Endangered Man is here to teach us all the way of the ninja. Featuring some rather impressive training videos, and very informative weapon descriptions:

HAND CLAWS
At some point in their life, every single Ninja will go flying up the trunk of a conifer tree and fire an arrow into another man's eye. These are for that.

LARGE SCALE ASSAULT PLAN
Ninja's don't petition the UN or make a bunch of picket signs when shit doesn't go their way. They identify the source of the problem, and kill everyone.

[via screenhead]

Warning: This is a long one...
Well, what a day it's been for me. This morning was a big morning in terms of my personal life, but I don't tend to blog about personal details. Rest assured that it wasn't in the least bit pleasant. So there was a lot of this, but after dinner I planned to go to a friend's 19th which I thought would be a good way to get my mind off things.

On the way, I decided to pick up a credit refill card because I was out of mobile credit. I asked for a $20 card but the guy behind the counter informed me that if I bought a $49 card, I'd actually get $230 worth of calls. I asked when the credit expired, and he said "Oh it's ages, like a year. Yeah, it's a year." So I went with that one, and continued on my way.

When I was about 10 minutes drive from my friend's house, I stopped at a red light and suddenly my car just died. This has happened once or twice before, but it has always restarted within the next few times. Not so tonight. I tried about 10 times, then gave up. Hazard lights on, I'm sitting in the middle of the road right before a fairly busy city interseciton. A nice girl on a bike stops and asks if I need help. I've decided by this point to just ring the RACV, and she asks if I need a mobile. I tell her it's ok because I have one, and she continues on her way.

So I grab out my prepaid card to recharge my credit. I ring the number, put in the pin code, and the machine responds "This code is invalid" and gives me a few options. I re-enter the code a couple of times just in case, and it's still invalid. I then select "customer service", and am greeted by a calm voice telling me that if I wish to hold, it will be at least 40 minutes before my call is handled. Screw that, I hang up and look for a payphone.

Oddly, there doesnt seem to be a single goddamn payphone around. I asked one lady if she had a mobile which I could borrow since my car was broken down, but she got edgy as if she thought I was about to mug her, so I thought I should probably leave her alone. I tried to go into a few buildings hoping a kind receptionist would let me use the phone, but couldn't find any nearby that were open.

Nearby resources exhausted, I decided I would have to take a little hike to the house of a friend who lived nearby. When I arrive, I knock on the door but find that he isn't home. Thankfully, his housemates are a very friendly bunch who let me use their phone to call the RACV. They say they'll be at my car in 20 - 40 minutes. So after a short time I decide I should be heading back to my car to make sure I'm there when they arrive.

15 minutes later I'm back at my car, waiting. I try starting it again, still no luck.

Another hour later I'm still waiting.

A friendly passerby arrives on scene and offers me his phone to check on the RACV's progress. I ring them, and just then they arrive. The guy tells me to try starting the car, and whaddya know it starts. He takes me round the corner out of the way of traffic, and the car dies again. He starts it again. He sits there revving it for a good 15 minutes. He states that the car is currently going, and as such there's nothing he can do. He instructs me to call the RACV again if it dies again. He smokes a cigarette, and then fills out some paperwork.

I am finally on my way. I arrive at the party a mere 2.5 hours late, and actually have a decent time, except soon people have already started to leave. I decide to tackle my phone's customer service, because I don't want to drive home without any credit. 40 minutes or so of hold, and finally I get through. The problem is, it turns out, that the $49 card I bought is not compatible with my current plan. I can go on the $49 plan, but then I can never go back to my old plan. What's the difference from my old plan? The credit expires in a mere 30 days. I don't use my phone much, and now I have $230 but only 30 days to use it. Great. So finally that is sorted. I hang around at the party some more but most people have left, so I leave fairly soon after.

After what was probably my most stressful car trip ever, I'm finally back home. The car died once on the way back, but it started up again second time. So there you have my day, and that didn't even include all the personal crap.

A friend of mine lent me a bottle of rosewater for some cooking experiments (namely homemade ice-cream). We noticed that the nutritional information on the label was slightly odd:

Calories: 0
Total Fat: 0g (0% Daily Value*)
Sodium: 0mg (0%)
Total Carb: 0g (0%)
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 0g

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie Diet

Wow, that's quite packed full of stuff there, innit? Seems I could eat an infinite amount of this stuff and never have to worry about having excess calories, fat, salt, sugar or protein! What is this stuff, air?

Also, do we really need to know what the percentages are based on? 0g is always going to be 0% of anything, I would have thought that information was fairly redundant...

No seriously, everyone does.
Check out this short animation featuring LOTR characters and Ninja Wizards...

Update: Original link died, so I mirrored the image.

Update #2: Steve is hosting heaps more of these animations.

My household, like many around these parts, has a washing machine. So I put the washing in, turn it on and press start (ain't I just the model new-age-guy doing my own washing and all? ;)). Off it goes, a bit of water here, bit of spinning there... Ten minutes into the cycle it starts this weird beeping. It's not just a single beep, it's like a little beep cascade, something you'd expect it to do when it's finished to say "OMGz0rz, teh w4sh1ng iz DUN!!"
(if only washing machines knew leet-speak, the world would be a far cooler place).

Only it's doing this every 5 seconds. I have a look at the display and there are no indications that anything is wrong, and at the end of it all the washing comes out all clean-like so it can't be a terribly big deal. So you know what I think? I think that maybe my washing machine is starting to feel neglected. I think the beeps are something along the lines of:

"Hey, Tim, check this out. Yeah, it's me still, your washing machine. You know how you told me to do your washing a little while ago? Well yeah, I'm doing it still... It'll be a while yet, but I just thought you might like to know how I was going. So er, yeah, it's going well... Guess I'll just keep on spinning then eh?"

Poor, poor neglected washing machine :(

Check it out, it's my first lame paraphrased title!
So anyways, as you've most likely heard there's a new iPod in town. Here's my take:

I love my iPod, and I am quite a fan of Apple. But this new player could well be the first iPod that flops. I sure wouldn't buy one. If I have a gig of music, I don't want to be listening to it blind. I want to see what's playing, and I want to be able to choose what plays next easier than having to cycle through my entire collection one song at a time. The iPod needs a screen for this, as well as other stuff (how do you know how much battery life you have left?). And as far as I can tell, this new iPod doesn't even have a hold button.

I know I'm probably not the intended audience for this player (since I've already got a 20GB iPod), but I would suggest that anyone who's looking at buying one of these should really check out a competing model. You know, something with a screen.

Also, here's how to hack your iPod into a new iPod shuffle.

Well, fancy that - my server died. For over a month. That kinda sucked...

But the site is finally back so err.. on with the show:
In the past month we've had a bit of Christmas, a bit of the New year, and even my birthday (making me 19). Here's some other stuff that happened:

• Some of my friends got blogs:
  • Andrew
  • Matt
• I got a 29-inch unicycle with short cranks. It goes way fast and its name is Dexter :D
• I remade www.misterwhiskers.com for Fransiscus Henri, and you'd be amazed at how many 19 year olds get all giddy when they find out I know Fransiscus ;)
• I started making a new game, this one's in C++. It's still very early so I shall talk about it more later.
• I have surely forgotten some stuff, but oh well...