WordPress Hacked/Cracked

It seems that the servers for Wordpress a popular program for Blog Publishing was Cracked.

An unknown cracker broke into a server hosting downloads of the popular WordPress blogging software and rigged the file with a remotely exploitable code execution vulnerability.
News of the hack comes directly from WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg:
"If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately."

Mullenweg described the code planted into the download as "unusual and highly exploitable" and stressed that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched during the attack.
"This is the kind of thing you pray never happens, but it did and now we're dealing with it as best we can. Although not all downloads of 2.1.1 were affected, we're declaring the entire version dangerous and have released a new version 2.1.2 that includes minor updates and entirely verified files. We are also taking lots of measures to ensure something like this can't happen again, not the least of which is minutely external verification of the download package so we'll know immediately if something goes wrong for any reason, he added.
He did not say how the attacker was able to breach the server.
Now, WordPress is trying to get the word out to any user who may have downloaded the rigged version 2.1.1.

If your blog is running 2.1.1, please upgrade immediately and do a full overwrite of your old files, especially those in wp-includes. Check out your friends blogs and if any of them are running 2.1.1 drop them a note and, if you can, pitch in and help them with the upgrade.
If you are a web host or network administrator, block access to "theme.php" and "feed.php," and any query string with "ix=" or "iz=" in it.

WINDOWS THE TWILIGHT ZONE

I have thought about this for about a day, as I did not want this to be just another among endless Windows rants. I finally decided to write about it as some thoughts came to me that I hope people might like to add their opinion too.

I'm using Windows XP SP2, my problem developed yesterday, when I tried to play a game. I received an error message that the driver binkw32.dll could not be found. I thought to myself Ok this should be easy to fix as I had the driver. I put the driver in the locations I thought it should go, I'm no computer expert, though I can find my way around. This is where some fun began, I got an error message saying the driver was in the wrong location and that it had to be located in another location, I can not remember where now as it's probably a side effect of hours spent trouble shooting.

The funny thing is this would have been so simple if the error message said along with it being in the wrong folder the location and how to find the proper folder that it needed to be in. This to me is just common sense why can't Windows get it?

Needless to say I did get the problem fixed, though I had to do a complete system restore, as I could not find where to put the driver, that seemed to be the easiest fix. This though caused me to lose hours of time that I will never get back re-downloading all the security patches and re-installing anti-virus and so on. So I had a thought how many people have lost time and productivity to Windows bugs? This is where things get fun hopefully if you decide to participate in this informal survey. How many Hours Have you lost trying to fix Windows bugs? Please leave your estimate in the comments section.

Also, to get the ball rolling here is my estimate of lost time With Windows, I think I have lost about 400hrs of time to Windows probably more , but I'm trying to be conservative. I started out with Windows 98 SE so I'm including all the time spent with all versions of windows.

So please in ending let me know how much time have you lost to the twilight zone that is called Windows?

Storm Night

Well, as I write this I'm unable to sleep, because there is one great storm going on. The city has battened down the hatches and is waiting to see just like me what the morning brings. I just hope the power stays up.

The Priory Cross

This is one of the first pieces of jewelry I designed it's based off of the Proiry Cross in Ireland, some History on the symbolism follows, and all comments are welcome.

The Celts were the ancient inhabitants of much of Europe. A spiritual people, their rich mythology and The symbols later merged with the Christian beliefs they embraced to create a distinctive art, seen especially in Ireland and Scotland. The Celtic Cross is known throughout the world as the emblem of Celtic Christianity, and it can be considered the symbol of The Celtics culture itself. Celtic Crosses began to appear during the fifth century A.D., it's shape is derived from a pagan sun symbol, the sunwheel, which later became a symbol of the Christian Godhead.

The sunwheel was originally a cross surrounded by a circle with a center stone representing the sun and mock suns at the four quarters. The stone at the center of the circle also represents the navel of the world. The stone pillar of the cross also embodies phallic and fertility characteristics. The cross represents eternal life; it's horizontal axis being the earthly world and the vertical axis the heavenly world coming together as the union of Heaven and Earth. Celtic Crosses are imbued with continuous and interwoven knot and spiral motifs symbolizing the continuity of life, death and rebirth.

Experiments In Photography Fall

This Photo I can not think of a title for so it's stuck with The name Fall for now, perhaps you might want to suggest a title for it.