Simmons Consulting
Dear Google Reader …
Please, please, please stop messing with your stylesheets. You keep changing your BIG honking
CRAYOLA®-mode
stylesheet and it’s breaking my extension that turns it into something that is actually readable.
Thanks.
Limit of 32,000 bytes? Really?
I cannot believe we have purchased a product based on a database that has a 32,000-byte limit on fields returned using their own ODBC driver!
Welcome to 1984. Wow.
Update: This limit also applies to their .NET driver.
Why it costs so much
If a client asks “Why do you charge so much for X hours of work?” simply tell them “You are paying me for the X hours of work and the 35,000 hours it took to learn how to do your project in X hours.”
New website launched!
A large ecommerce project of mine recently launched. The site is called Ridge City Media and they offer disc repair services, for CDs, DVDs and game console discs. If you have scratched or unworking discs, CDs that skip or won’t play, check out their site for excellent disc repair.
Cindy Lou’s Books website
It’s been a long time since I have had a new site launch, but just recently I designed and launched a site for a friend who was opening a used bookstore in honor of his wife who recently died from ovarian cancer. The book store, in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, is called Cindy Lou’s Used & Loved Books. You should go there and read about Cindy and what Mark is doing now.
Integrating WP in external PHP pages
I have several external pages that use the WP theme engine to wrap the content. I use the method found here, which worked great under WordPress 2.9.2. After upgrading to WP 3.0, these pages no longer worked as expected but instead generated 404s; it turns out the fix is rather simple.
Facebook ads malware
Not sure what is going on with Facebook but I logged on this evening and within two clicks, received a scareware/malware-type popup message. It said something about “Hey your computer is infected, Do you want to scan it now?” This was a Javascript popup message with an “OK” and “Cancel” button. I clicked “Cancel” and immediately the browser window was covered up with a fake Windows dialog box showing a progress bar and a flashing “Scanning!” prompt. I closed the browser immediately and noticed the URL of the malicious page. It was from (DO NOT LOAD THIS WEBSITE)
http:// 217.23.5.205/ index.html
The IP address appears to be owned by an outfit in the Netherlands.
This page had some simple attempts at Javascript obfuscation but essentially it covered up the browser window with a <div> that looked like an Explorer window with infected files. Bear this in mind while browsing.
Churches helping churches
Watch this short film put together by Mars Hill Church (in Seattle) and Harvest Bible Chapel. Pastors Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald took a 32-hour trip to Haiti to survey the condition of the local churches and body. It will leave you wrecked.
