Though I was playing around with the SSH configuration files to get SFTP transferred files to set a specific file permissions mask (umask), I don’t think I changed anything that would have caused this error:

“Connection to session XXXX failed: The server has disconnected with an error. Server message reads: A protocol error occurred. bind: Permission denied.”

“Connection to session XXXX failed: The server has disconnected with an error. Server message reads: A protocol error occurred. bind: Permission denied.”

The problem occurred on the Debian/Ubuntu based machine. Interestingly, the error only occurred when using SecureCRT - sftp via Sftpdrive worked great, and connecting to the machine via other SSH clients worked fine as well.

After trying everything I could think of, including changing authentication methods, user names, etc, and after much searching, I finally found a solution over in the HP forums:

Got it working. Fix is:
in SecureCRT

Options -> Global Options -> SSH2 Options

Turn off Option: Enable OpenSSH agent forwarding

Easy enough fix, but it took me about an hour to find the solution. If yo urun into the same problem, hopefully you’ll find this post much quicker than I found the HP solution.

While I do have a few methods for blocking these guys in place, just this morning I noticed that one particular crawler, identifying itself as “INA dlweb; http://ina.fr/” and coming from 195.221.138.170, was really killing my machine. The only solution was to reconfigure my firewall to drop all packets coming from this IP address.

If you’ve got a server with the very popular LAMP setup (Linux/Apache/Mysql/Php), you can likely do the same.

Here’s how: As root, enter:
iptables -A INPUT -s a.b.c.d -j DROP

, where a.b.c.d is the IP address of the offending web bot. In my case, I entered “iptables -A INPUT -s 195.221.138.170 -j DROP”.

Worked like a charm - my server load dropped drastically:

Before the Change:
10:37:01 up 241 days, 18:20, 3 users, load average: 1.26, 0.70, 0.47
10:38:01 up 241 days, 18:21, 3 users, load average: 1.13, 0.73, 0.49


After the Change:

11:21:01 up 241 days, 19:04, 3 users, load average: 0.40, 0.55, 0.64
11:22:01 up 241 days, 19:05, 3 users, load average: 0.31, 0.52, 0.62
11:23:01 up 241 days, 19:06, 3 users, load average: 0.11, 0.42, 0.58

This method should work on most flavors of Linux, including Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat, Debian, etc.

I have trouble falling asleep at night because thoughts never seem to stop racing through my head - Did I do X yet? What if I did Y? Ooh, I could make it easier to do Y … Hey, I have a cool idea for an awesome invention… and I’m starting to get excited about it … (!)

Listening to radio shows helps me quiet my mind & get to sleep. To that end, I use the Coast to Coast AM Media Center to automatically download shows from the Coast to Coast AM website. (Sure, the content can be really nutty from time to time, but I treat it as entertainment & fiction, not a show to be taken seriously.) One of the limitations of the downloader is that the downloaded mp3s don’t have very useful names - instead of being named something useful, like “03-20 John Titor and Time Travel,” the files instead carry largely useless names such as “Coast to Coast - Mar 20 2008 - Hour 2.mp3.”

I wrote the below perl script to make the downloaded file names more useful. It connects to the Coast to Coast AM website, looks up the file name, creates a directory with that filename, then moves the downloaded mp3s to that directory. To run the script on your Windows machine, you’ll need to have the Cygwin suite installed, along with the cygwin perl module.

#!/usr/bin/perl

$DIR="/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/eddie/My Documents/coast to coast am media center";

opendir (DIR, $DIR) or die "cant open dir $DIR";
while (my $file = readdir (DIR)){
   if ($file=~/mp3$/){
      #process mp3 file
      #print "$file n";
      $file=~/(w+) ([0-9]+) ([0-9]+)/;
      #$file=~/^.+? (w) ([0-9]+) ([0-9]+) .+$/;
      #print "mon $1 n day $2 n year $3n";
      $y=$3;
      $month=$1;
      $d=$2;

      print "month is $monthn";
      if ($month eq  "Feb"){
         $m="02";
      }elsif($month eq "Mar"){
         $m="03";
      }elsif($month eq "Apr"){
         $m="04";
      }elsif($month eq "May"){
         $m="05";
      }elsif($month eq "Jun"){
         $m="06";
      }elsif($month eq "Jul"){
         $m="07";
      }elsif($month eq "Aug"){
         $m="08";
      }elsif($month eq "Sep"){
         $m="09";
      }elsif($month eq "Oct"){
         $m="10";
      }elsif($month eq "Nov"){
         $m="11";
      }elsif($month eq "Dec"){
         $m="12";
      }elsif($month eq "Jan"){
         $m="01";
      }else{
         $m="XX";
      }

      $date_string = $m . "-" . $d;

      if ($SHOWS[$y-$m-$d]){
         $title=$SHOWS[$y-$m-$d];
      }else{
         $url = "http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/$y/$m/$d.html";
         #print "getting URL $url...n";
         #<h2><a name="recap"></a>Title</h2>
         system("wget -q -O /tmp/temp.$$ $url");
         $file_contents = `cat /tmp/temp.$$`;
         $file_contents=~/<h2><a names*=s*"recap"></a>(.+?)</h2>/;
         $title = $1;
         $title=~s/&/and/gis;
         $title=~s/:/-/gis;
         $title=~s/!//gis;
         $desc=~s/<.+?>//gis;
         print "TITLE:  $titlen";
         $SHOWS[$y-$m-$d] = $title;
         system("rm  /tmp/temp.$$");
      }

      ## move the file to the proper directory
      $dirname = $date_string . " " . $title;
      if (-e "$DIR/$dirname"){
         #dir already exists
      }else{
         $cmd="mkdir  \"$DIR/$dirname\"";
         system ($cmd);
      }

      $cmd = "mv \"$DIR/$file\" \"$DIR/$dirname\"";
      #print "want to $cmdn";
      system ($cmd);

   }
}
close DIR;

According to webhosting.info, Go Daddy is blowing the competition out of the water. As of March 2008, 23.4% of all domain name registrations are done through Go Daddy, with another 3% through Go Daddy owned Wild West Domains.

Web hosting.info has this handy little chart:

(current as of March 2008)

Pretty impressive for a company that, just a few years ago, nearly went bankrupt as founder Bob Parsons bet his personal fortune on the company’s success.

I personally own about 200 domain names, and all are registered through Go Daddy. Here’s a tip for anyone looking to register a name: Use coupon code AMAZON2 to save a few bucks on registration. And if you’re looking for quality web hosting, drop me a line.

Gmail has been around for a few years, making its unique multi-threaded discussion format old hat to many internet users. Still, many users remain in the dark as to a number of Gmail power user tips and tricks, keeping them from unlocking Gmail’s full power.

Here, I run down a few useful tips and tricks that should help you use Gmail to its full potential.

1. Add periods to your Gmail address

You’re free to add as many periods to your Gmail address as you’d like. For instance, say that your Gmail address is:

eddieoneverything@gmail.com

You will also receive email sent to eddie.on.everything@gmail.com, ed.dieoneverything@gmail.com, eddie.on.every.thing@gmail.com, even e.d.d.i.e.o.n.e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g@gmail.com. Why does this matter? Using this trick in conjunction with a handy Gmail filter, you can track the source of your incoming emails, and filter them according.

2. Add plus signs to your Gmail address for fighting spam

Your Gmail account will also receive email sent to yourname+anything@gmail.com. So, if your Gmail address is eddieoneverything@gmail.com, you will also receive email sent to addresses like eddieoneverything+signup@gmail.com and eddieoneverything+spammer@gmail.com. This handy hack is great for dodging spam, and for tracking the source of all of that unsolicited email.

For instance, let’s say that you need to sign up at startribune.com to gain access to their news articles, but you don’t want to forever be spammed by the Star Tribune and their advertisers. Just sign up using the email address eddieoneverything+startribune@gmail.com, and if the spam gets out of hand, set up a rule to filter all email to that address directly to the spam folder.

3. Use the plus-sign hack to automatically sort, store notes

The plus-sign hack described above can make for a great PIM, or personal information manager. I set up a label for “notes,” and created a rule that automatically filters all email sent to myaddress+notes@gmail.com to the notes area. The result is that whenever I want to save a piece of information for later retrieval (eg a frequent flyer number) I can just email it to myaddress+notes@gmail.com. Searching by label is a snap, so the info I want is always at my fingertips.

4. Two Gmail addresses – gmail.com and googlemail.com

Digital Inspiration discovers that all Gmail users can receive mail at 2 separate domains – both gmail.com and googlemail.com. This means that you can give Grandma your googlemail.com address and set up a rule to process those emails with a higher priority.

These are just a few tips that make using Gmail a more enjoyable experience. Personally, I rarely use the Gmail web interface – instead, I use SMTP access to expand the power of Gmail even further. Look for more on that in Part II.

perl -pi -w -e 's/foo/bar/g' *\.php

On his blog, Liam Delahunty explains what each of the following command line switches means.


-e means execute the following line of code.
-i means edit in-place
-w write warnings
-p loop


There you have it - a nice and easy Perl solution that should save you tons of time.

By default, Apache only parses files ending in extension .php as PHP files. If you need to tell Apache to also process files with other extensions as PHP files, you need to add a special handler to the Apache config files. Problem is, most individuals on shared hosting setups don’t have access to these files. Fortunately, there is a way around this.

To tell Apache to parse HTML files just like it does PHP files, you need only create a file called .htaccess (note the dot) in your root web directory. In that file, include the following line:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .html

It’s that simple!

If you really needed another reason to stay far, far away from these ripoff gift cards, this is it.

So let’s sum up just a few reasons to not use gift cards:

• Limited to spending your money at one store.
• Unused balance often left unspent, meaning pure profit for the retailer
• The cards are pre-paid, non-interest bearing accounts. This means that the store, not you, makes interest on your money.
• Most have monthly maintenance fees after a period of inactivity
• No purchase protection like that offered by credit cards and even debit cards.
• Store may refuse to honor the gift cards at any time, subject to their issuance terms.
• Many Visa branded gift cards do not work at all retailers; in fact, they rarely work at gas pumps.
• As we learn here, gift cards are a form of unsecured debt for the store, meaning that if the store should happen to file for bankruptcy, card holders are very low down on the totem pole when it comes to reimbursement.

With all of these negatives, why do people continue to purchase these things? My guess is that most purchases are made as gifts for others - you don’t know what to buy your friend/aunt/cousing, so instead of picking out a gift, you buy him/her/it a Target-branded gift card. Word to the wise - next time, just give cash.

Customer Experiences from the Consumerst:

… Now, I finally go to the store and hand them my certificate and I’m told that due to Chapter 11, SI is not accepting Merchandise Certificates or Gift Cards from anyone.

He called Sharper Image customer service see what the problem was and the representative told him they had suspended gift card redemptions due to the bankruptcy.

One of these days, I am going to write a nifty screenshot utility that I’ve been planning for some time. Until then, just follow these steps.

1. Get whatever you want to take a screenshot of on the screen

Duh.

2. Hit the “Print Screen” Key

On a normal keyboard, the Print Screen key (sometimes abbreviated “prt scrn”) is located above the number pad.

Pressing the Print Screen key causes an image of whatever is on your screen to be copied to the clipboard.

3. Start your favorite image editor

If you have Photoshop, fire it up. If not, you can use the simple image editor that Windows XP ships with - MS Paint. MS Paint is located in your start menu, under “Accessories.” Alternatively, you can run MS Paint by going to Start->Run and typing “mspaint”. (no quotes)

Note - if you’re looking for a nice free image editor, you may want to check out The Gimp.

4. Paste the image from the clipboard onto your screen

Use the Edit->Paste functionality, or try the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-V (paste.) You should now be able to use the photo editing program to crop the image to your liking, add text, etc. When finished, simply save the image to your hard drive.

5. A note on image formats

If you are using MS Paint, the default image format will be BMP or “Bitmap.” BMP files tend to be very large and limited in their usefulness. If you are taking this screenshot to email to someone, you should probably choose to save the image as a jpeg (JPG) file.

The Problem: You post an ad on Craigslist to sell a legitimate product or service, but “the community” flags your ad as being “inappropriate” or “prohibited.” Why do they flag these ads, if they are legitimate ads, you ask? Good question. Turns out that a lot of people are of the opinion that all goods should be sold at or below cost.

The Solution: If you find your ad being flagged, simply use the same email that you used to post your ad to edit it every so often. Each time you edit the ad, the “flag counter” is reset, meaning that you need that the small minority of vigilante flaggers has to start at the beginning.

“Social” sites always lead to this sort of thing - a small group of people control the content that everyone else sees. Ain’t democracy grand?