L337 advertising

Posted by Jorge Bernal March 24, 2007

Advertising is evolving in strange ways. It took some time to recognize the language (looks like C, but the this suggest OO, so C++ was a candidate), but it runs when compiled as C++.

#include "stdio.h"
#include "string.h"

struct cool {
  char p1, p2, p[5];
  cool(int c) : p2(c++), p1(c) {
    strcpy(p, "v_ga");
    p[1]=p2; p2=p[3]; p[3]=c;
    printf("www.%s.com/feladvany", this);
  }
} leet('n');

int main (int argc, char const* argv[])
{

  return 0;
}

[via: coolz0r]

Serendipity

Posted by Jorge Bernal March 23, 2007

A weird thing just happened to me while waiting for the bus. I was listening to the audiobook from Larry King How to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere when some man approached me asking for a lighter. I was wearing a long black coat which might be the reason why this man was convinced I was some kind of sarge of the army, or even a higher officer. Maybe he was just crazy.

He starts telling me something I couldn’t hear very well and then spends five minutes telling me in detail some ranks of the Spanish Army, and how each soldier has to approach their superiors when talking. After listening carefully to this bizarre speech, he just leaves and I plug my headphones and hit Play again.

Just a few seconds of audiobook later, Larry is explaining how to approach your boss and colleagues properly, using army ranks as an example, and telling the exact same thing than this anonymous man just have told me. The only different is that the first man sounded like a crazy one while Larry King sounds like an expert.

That was my dose of confusion for today

Goodbye Typo

Posted by Jorge Bernal March 23, 2007

I don’t know if it was typo’s fault, Dreamhost’s fault, or just the weird combination of both, but I can’t take anymore Application error every single time I visit my blog. I wonder how much percent of the time it was actually online.

So I’m back with WordPress.

Typo sentenced to death

Posted by Jorge Bernal January 16, 2007

That’s it. I’m tired of error 500 all the time. I’m not sure if I should blame typo or Dreamhost, but the thing is I’ll migrate this blog back to Wordpress one of these days.

Just to have it at hand when that day comes: Automatic migration from typo to Wordpress

Update: It’s done

PHP pearls

Posted by Jorge Bernal January 11, 2007

Found this in the PHP manual:

Note: Also note that if you are embedding PHP within XML or XHTML you will need to use the <?php ?> tags to remain compliant with standards.

What?? Who cares?? I mean, this embedded PHP code is meant to be seen only by the PHP interpreter, parsed and sent back to the client as XML or XHTML, so what’s the point here?

Define: irony

Posted by Jorge Bernal December 26, 2006

When you search define: irony in google you should get this screenshot:

In Pop-up Potpourri you can find a great collection of stupid screenshots. It’s hard to pick one as the best, but I’d vote for the weather forecast and the last one

I don’t really need one of these transistors that Scott S. is buying, but I’m really tempted to get one. It’d be awesome: a forty-ton object that takes up no space and costs only $1.80! Anyone got a free shipping coupon code I can use?

Also, today on The Daily WTF: flyer-to-print-to-photo-to-print-to-scan-to-web

Live preview shows you funny things

Posted by Jorge Bernal December 08, 2006

By the way, this is what happens when you have live preview in your blogging system, and mistype font-size: 175% for font-size: 1750%

Weirdest SPAM message

Posted by Jorge Bernal November 24, 2006

This is the most bizarre but fun SPAM I’ve received today this month ever.

Subject: But Fortran programs will continue to live for years in large financial institutions.

view KML files with google maps.
SEM leads to more direct sales, in which the seller is most interested,
but we also learn from brands like Coca-Cola with, perhaps, one of the
most recognizable faces in the world. view KML files with google maps. I
would not have written an authentication system in JavaScript. He then
was telling me about re-engineering my site.

xxxx

[... real cheap stocks spam stuff …]

xxxx

Something to think about when recruiting, or seeking new employees is
that the pool is getting smaller, and those in the pool are going to ask
for a lot more than they are getting now. But Perl itself is hardly
obsolete. SEM and SEO will, for the foreseeable future, be essential for
being found, and essential for measuring ROI.
Who can hit the nail on the head? But also, the event has a stage in
Second Life, where fans can view a simultaneous live webcast.
They view the additional wait as merely a nuisance, an unfortunate fact
of life in today’s world. The other half, now more attainable, is the
focus on branding – visibility in previously invisible places – and
awareness of products and services.
Return the soup to the heat and fold in the turkey meat. We need a
youtube for technology, or a MySpace for technology to show that we are
not all just a bunch of folks in a cube farm.
I think I have read that somebody mean that Perl is better on security
related projects.
I have not coded a single line in Perl and do not know the language.
Something to think about when recruiting, or seeking new employees is
that the pool is getting smaller, and those in the pool are going to ask
for a lot more than they are getting now. What you probably have not
seen is what to do with all the leftover turkey.
“I am not so sure it’s a mass-market trend, but certainly one for the
audience that enjoys Second Life. Of course, WSJ knowing nothing about
the subject, turns to recent comScore data for its answer. Branding
online is a directive to search, pulling your brand to the front of it,
rather than the back of it.
htaccess better than most of us and look at the free downloads. The odds
are they just don’t know Perl and are trying to convince you to redo
your site so they can get the job and the big payday. It’s a
match-making style website in a niche industry.
I think I have read that somebody mean that Perl is better on security
related projects. He also knows ASP and the MS IIS web server. do you
need your own web space to upload some files? When it’s hot, add the
bacon and cook until crisp. When it’s hot, add the bacon and cook until
crisp.
Branding online is a directive to search, pulling your brand to the
front of it, rather than the back of it.
htaccess to improve security on your site.
What is to stop someone from simply clicking dozens of links and
entering the phone numbers of friends, enemies or premium numbers? The
loose typing of PHP, its inbuild variables has its advantages.
They view the additional wait as merely a nuisance, an unfortunate fact
of life in today’s world. I would not have written an authentication
system in JavaScript.
htaccess better than most of us and look at the free downloads. What
MySpace began, and perhaps abandoned to an extent once News Corp. Of
course, WSJ knowing nothing about the subject, turns to recent comScore
data for its answer.
Branding online is a directive to search, pulling your brand to the
front of it, rather than the back of it.
do you need your own web space to upload some files?

Pop-idol or buggy browser?

Posted by Jorge Bernal October 30, 2006

From time to time, I use to check my FeedBurner feeds, mostly to check the number of subscribers (a small ego boost).

This is what I’ve found today:

Well, either I’ve suddenly become a new Blog star (last day number was 22), or there’s something wrong here. I can understand a peak of visits, but this numbers are for feed subscribers.

Most curiously, almost any new subscriber was using Firefox Live Bookmarks. Too much coincidence.

Thinking about it… I’d also add a third option: FeedBurner problem.

Anyway if there are actually 300 of you reading, welcome to all!

UPDATE: It must be a bug, back to normal today

The daily WTF Greatest Hits II

Posted by Jorge Bernal April 13, 2006

This one is definitely winning my personal contest of worst code piece ever by now:

function saveform()
{
  var firstName = escapeSql(mainForm.elements.txtFirstName.value);
  var lastName = escapeSql(mainForm.elements.txtLastName.value);
  /* ... */
  var offerCode = escapeSql(mainForm.elements.txtOfferCode.value);

  var code =
  '  $cn = mssql_connect($DB_SERVER, $DB_USERNAME, $DB_PASSWORD)           ' +
  '          or die("ERROR: Cannot Connect to $DB_SERVER");                ' +
  '  $db = mssql_select_db($DB_NAME, $cn);                                 ' +
  '                                                                        ' +
  '  if (mssql_query("SELECT 1 FROM APPS WHERE SSN=\''+ssn+'\'", $cn)) ' +
  '  { $ins = false; }                                                     ' +
  '  else                                                                  ' +
  '  { $ins = true; }                                                      ' +
  '                                                                        ' +
  '  if ($ins) {                                                           ' +
  '    $sql = "INSERT INTO APPS (FIRSTNM, LASTNM, ..., OFFERCD) VALUES ("; ' +
  '    $sql+= "\''+firstName+'\',";                                        ' +
  '    $sql+= "\''+lastName+'\',";                                         ' +
  '    $sql+= "\''+offerCode+'\')";                                        ' +
  '                                                                        ' +
  '  /* ... */                                                             ' +
  '                                                                        ' +
  '  mssql_query($sql, $cn);                                               ' +
  '  mssql_close($cn);                                                     ';

  execPhp(code);
}

I wonder who’d kill who if someone saves the HTML code and changes $sql to DELETE FROM APPS.

Via Client-side PHP