I’d left work early due try and get on top of a headcold, and about 12mins after arriving home, the rain started; then the blackout that was inevitable (according to my boss, the salt encrusts on the power distribution network and shorts it out until it’s duly rinsed off – and rinsed off it was).

Then the hail started, and like a sodden fool playing skirmish with god (and without a gun), I dashed about trying to blanket the car to remove some of the potency of the hail impact. Unfortunately, and welts aside, I was a little late and Storm’s beloved Norman now carries some pock marks for his struggles. Compared with some other cars I saw today, and with others that had windows/screen smashed yesterday, he pulled up alright.

I’m sure a few trusty 10+ year old canines managed to slip off their mortal collars and expired with nerves as a result of the lightning and thunder that carried on for hours. Flooding in the city, traffic at a standstill for hours, mudslides near the CBDs iconic park, and washing wet on the line for the first time in months… it was, in a word… memorable.

Anyways, here are some pics… You’d think I’ve never seen rain the way I’m carrying on, but hey… it was fun!

Norman in the Hail

Hail in the Yardl

Hail the size of hailstones

2nd Front on the way

Green Clouds

Green Clouds2

The Old Shed

Downpour

Driving Home

Chain Rain...

It must really suck being the moderator on a c.h.u.r.c.h bulletin board if you have to deal with thousands upon thousands of spam comments… The need for moderation on online sites is discussed here, in an apparent analogy to ‘real’ life…

So far, Askimet has protected my blog from around 45,000 spam posts – so I guess “Askimet saves better than Kalac too!” it would seem…

Now to delete that post…

My still-slighty-intoxicated flatmate informed me that after work (at a nightclub where a meagre hourly wage is supplemented by a not-so-meagre apportioning of liquor) he got online and booked a flight to Thailand for the coming week. He was going to go with his Irish friend Johnny who had exclaimed, in true Irish form, that the trip ‘was going to get f*%king retarded’. Reece was somewhat chuffed at obtaining return flights for only 700, only to later realise (at which point I’m still unsure) that he had indeed been navigating a British website and that the quoted 700 was in Pounds sterling.

It later emerged that he’d checked the price multiple times, oblivious to the fact it was preceded by a £ sign. He’d also passed on the right to purchase the ‘right to refund’ should something go astray. Fortunately, the exchange rate is somewhat favourable so that, even if his frantic post-booking ‘please scrap that and refund me’ email should fall on deaf ears, he’ll ‘only’ be out of pocket by around $1500.

The moral of the story, I guess, is: If you’re get booked for drunken driving, you’re a fool. If you get driven for a drunken booking, you’re on your way to becoming ‘f$£king retarded’…

I shall get around to the former in the course of the next week as we wrap up our stay in Brisbane but I’d like to turn to the intrigue thus presented…

In an age where many more people are blogging, becoming virtual residents and catching the Intertubes to various destinations of work and play, there is an increasing likelihood of your average Joe and Joeline running websites without a comprehensive understanding of their underpinnings and vulnerabilities. Internet hosts facilitate this through easy 1-click installs (occasionally more) of popular software to enable expression of thoughts (WordPress etc), artistic inclinations (photo galleries) and/or commercial enterprises (Joomla, Zencart etc).

Whilst a number of free websites cater for budding bloggers, photographers, entrepreneurs – and indeed have built vast communities and empires (think Flickr, Blogspot) through the provision of these services – there is something nice about the ownership that comes with one’s own website, be it a terrible one page contraption with flickering borders and gaudy colour schemes. There is also no question of End User Agreements or relinquishment of rights to images and/or text.

So I should not have been surprised that I am one of these Joes that took web security for granted and had my website hacked on what appears to be multiple occasions. It looks as though the Joomla software I’d installed on a whim (and whose suggested security measures I’d ignored) was hacked and, in one instance, had been supplemented with a fraudulent Paypal service that solicited details from unsuspecting Joes and Joelines to fund personal drug habits, armament of 3rd world warlords or worse.

Whilst removing the hacked files and reactivating my now empty binbilla.net domain, I also discovered this hack – replete with what I can only assume is an Allahphilic rap song, which appears to be separate from the Paypal fraud. Interesting eh…

In retroflection I’m just glad that there was nothing of import on binbilla.net and that it was not jameses.org that was jeopardised. For although I would likely get back most of whatever was removed/deleted/destroyed from this site, the thought of losing the words, sentiments, stories and memories that I’ve imparted on these digital pages over the last few years is not a pleasant one. That being said, I should really go and upgrade my version of wordpress, no?

————

As a last little tidbit of funny in this somewhat dry post, I’d like to leave you with Senior Sergeant Greg Davies of the Victorian Police Association’s sage words on tasers.

“A lot of the reports in relation to tasers have been wildly exaggerated and I think if we set the statistics aside and just deal in facts, we will find that there are, according to some sources, no recorded deaths directly attributed to tasers anywhere in the world.”

The man’s a born politician!

A couple of weeks later and it struck me that someone would have captured it on a phone camera. So here it is in all of its laughable glory.

I do, however, have nothing on this Gomez fan. Different Gomez, but still, you never know!

I just wonder if this is what I will become given another few decades of bitter gall.

From: H
To: Prestige Communications Dispatch
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Your Consignment Number

Hi. Apparently Australian Air Express is unable to find my address. Strangely, Australia Post manages to find it every single day, without fail. So do I, even after a prolonged session at the pub. At any event, I’m informed the order is being returned to you. Can you please send it back to me. To make it a little easier on the geographically-challenged (and perhaps, I speculate, intellectually disabled) delivery people at Australian Air Express, could you send it to my office address, which is Level 25, 111 George Street, Brisbane. The security guards will not accept deliveries, so the delivery person will need to contact me by ringing XXXX at the security desk.

Might I suggest you employ a delivery service that actually delivers, rather than the clowns at Australian Air Express who fraudulently accept your fee for no actual service.

H

On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 9:18 AM, Prestige Communications Dispatch wrote:

When it comes back I will notify you. We will be sending it through Australia Post and it will arrive to your local post office.

Unfortuantly, to cover freight expenses. We will need to fill out a Cash on Delivery form. However, I’m not sure how much it will cost.

Brandon

From: H
Date: Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: Your Consignment Number
To: Prestige Communications Dispatch

Hi Brandon -

I agree that Australia Post has a record of competent parcel delivery that Australian Air Express can only approach in their dreams.

I am not, however, a happy customer. Let’s rehearse the facts of the case:

1. I pay for a premium express parcel delivery service from Australian Air Express.

2. Australian Air Express demonstrates their patent inability to find their own ar*e, yea even if they use both hands.

3. I receive in exchange for my money the following: zero, zip, nada, nothing.

4. I get neither a refund nor an apology for receiving no service in exchange for my money.

5. I have to endure a further delay on receiving my parcel.

6. I have to pay extra for this delayed service.

Put like that, it sounds eminently fair, hey? Not.

H

I guess the problem is standing out from the crowd. With a larger potential audience comes greater competition and a walk down the virtual shopping aisles of Youtube would have you quickly surmise that there are shedloads of very talented people with access to (at least) a video camera and a head of smarts. But, there is always room for those who have the motivation and originality to be a ‘first’, and those who spend some time surfing the net know that certain blogs, discussion websites and, increasingly, mainstream media (through their blogs/offbeat columns/video sections) lap it up. A notable mention on a superblog such as Boingboing has the potential to slam web servers as the many thousands of devoted BB readers click on through (e.g.).

This post is leading somewhere, and that somewhere is the clever choice of an hitherto unsigned Manchester band to record a film clip for their latest offering in front of mutliple CC-TV cameras and then request the footage back through Data Protection legislation for mashing together. Although it is passed off as a way to produce a cheap film clip (“we didn’t have money for a film crew”) it is much more likely an attempt at something sufficiently original and creative to get the web buzzing. And it did just that… The Telegraph and BB picked it up and I’m sure countless other second- and third- tier blogs (such as this) will do the same. And so the opportunity to become the next OK GO has presented itself… Whether the Manchester band is canny enough to capitalise on its initial fame is hard to see; however, it has definitely given itself a fighting chance with its initial offering…

And when all’s said and done, it is a nicely made film clip (I did notice their use of a free moving camera – complete with CC-TV like lines and resolution) and the song is nice and catchy. So in praise of their efforts in embracing the ‘new’ advertising medi-um/a here’s the link

(And p.s. – cheers to those who’ve taken up the offer of email subscription; don’t worry mum… I’m on my lunch break!)