February 2009
I HATE Microsoft Access
Submitted by pwnell on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 22:08Tonight I spent 3 hours trying to get a simple, basic SQL query to work in Microsoft Access 2003. The SQL query runs perfectly in Microsoft SQL Server 2005, however when run through the VB code in Access via the DAO layer it kept on failing with a syntax error. Obviously the error message did not point out the cause of the error. Since the SQL was perfectly valid and not complex, I was baffled.
Here is the basic query I had written:
Stephen Hawking immortalized
Submitted by pwnell on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 20:14I found this - and think it is awesome
New website
Submitted by pwnell on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 21:03It is clear from the looks of this site that some major changes happened.
I combined the old reef site with my blog site to create a single personal portal. There is still some work to do (especially on the About and Photography sections), but at least the major work has been done.
Moving from Movable Type to my new platform was not trivial, as no straight migration path exists. This means I have lost all my comments. I believe this will not be a train smash, so if you miss them - I invite you to register and post some new ones :)
Super cool clips
Submitted by pwnell on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 21:05I am not a fan of watching movie clips, but these are really cool.
Drupal on Mac OS X Leopard and Apache/GD
Submitted by pwnell on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 17:57I have been developing a couple of sites now using the Drupal CMS. It works great on Mac OS X, but there is one challenging aspect when trying to get the image manipulation functionality to work, as this needs the GD library but Apache as it is distributed with Mac OS X Leopard does not include that library.
Most sites will tell you how to compile the GD library, however you will find for a mysterious reason your GD support will be FALSE. This article explains why and how to fix it.
How is this for good security
Submitted by pwnell on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 19:31My password on a Linux server was recently reset by the authorities that be, and the secure thing to do is naturally to immediately change your password upon logging in, to enhance privacy and security of the account. So much to my surprise did I encounter this response from the system:
-bash-2.05b$ passwd
Changing password for user waldo.
Changing password for waldo
(current) UNIX password:
You must wait longer to change your password
passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
:( I am MacBook Pro-less
Submitted by pwnell on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 15:24Pathetic password policy continued.
Submitted by pwnell on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 17:40Continuing my frustration with changing my password on this one Linux system, I tried to be clever. So I logged in as root, then used:
passwd accountname
to force set the password. So much to my surprise, when I tried that, and I saw this response:
A valid password should be a mix of upper and lower case letters,
digits, and other characters. You can use an 8 character long
password with characters from at least 3 of these 4 classes, or
Omniplan gets straight to the point
Submitted by pwnell on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 11:18Not all resources are equal:
