Markham's shared items in Google Reader

Surfing and Cervical Myelopathy (a headline not often seen)

2009-11-11T09:40:21Z

Does anyone out there surf and have cervical myelopathy? I ask because, after weeks of pain, an MRI scan reveals that this rather annoying condition is what ails me. I'm no expert on medical matters but basically cervical myelopathy is all about spinal cord deterioration. In my case, the rot probably started 12 years ago following a snowboarding injury and was hugely exacerbated when I hit the deck with my neck while flow-riding in Jersey a couple of months ago. For the past month or so the following symptoms have been regularly present:

1. Intense neck pain accompanied by electric shock sensations running down my spine whenever the neck is flexed (this is known as 'Lermitte's Sign').

2. Convulsive, shock-like feelings if I'm jolted in any way, e.g. when duck-diving or getting caught inside, or even when popping up.

3. Tingling in my fingers.

4. A numb left hand.

5. Ridiculous fatigue, e.g as at my last session at Spot G, when by the time I'd reached the line-up I was so tired and leaden I felt like I'd sink.

6. Clumsiness and loss of balance.

7. A left leg that doesn't quite work properly, e.g when walking downstairs it wobbles ever so slightly out of control before landing.

8. Inability to run without looking like Samuel Beckett's Watt.

All of these are consistent with what the MRI shows to be "significant" cervical myelopathy. In effect, my nerves are so messed up by bony growths in my spinal cord that my body isn't doing what my brain tells it to do.

Curiously, at the end of my session at Spot G, I quipped to Aerial Attack and Mr J. Asbo that when they next saw me it'd be with my neck in traction. My GP tells me that this is one possibility, while another, given the advanced state of my spinal chaos, is a high risk op to remove the bony protusions which are causing all the grief. A neurosurgeon will advise in due course.

Now then, here is the rub. I'm told that I can't do any exercise at all, other than walking the dogs. In truth, even I can accept this, just about, not least because if I were to paddle out in my current state the pain would be hideous and it'd be 50:50 as to whether I'd get back in again. But the prognosis for cervical myelopathy is not all that great, and the thought of not being able to surf again is doing my head in. Does anyone have any advice on this condition or, better yet, know of surfers who've beaten it and got back in the water?

Pictured: Happier days - about to paddle out at the Soup Bowl with Harry and Zed Layson, and getting a wave there a little later.

Authorities stalk Irish national over visa scam

2009-11-11T12:45:58Z

by Pádraig Collins
The case of an Irishman being investigated by Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) over visa fraud has been passed on to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Irish Echo has learned.
The news follows a series of revelations in the Echo concerning fraudulent Australian Business Numbers (ABN) being used by Irish backpackers to obtain second Working Holiday Visas (WHV).
The Irishman whose case is now with the DPP is still living in Australia. It is understood this case is separate from the cases where one Irishman has already been convicted of visa fraud and another, who has left the country, is being investigated.
The basis of all these investigations lies in the ABNs of farmers being used by applicants for second WHVs. People applying for a second WHV have to first work for three months in agricultural or regional work.
Many applicants thought the ABN scam was genuine and that they would work on a farm at a later date. But some, unable or unwilling to find regional work, paid up to $400 for an ABN and took their chances that DIAC would not fully scrutinise their application. It is estimated that 90% of the time the visa was granted due to the vast number of visas being processed and the relatively few which were subjected to in depth checking.

One scammer selling ABNs through internet ads is estimated to have made up to $60,000 doing so. He used the alias “Kevin Doyle” and is now back in Ireland and thought to be living in Co Wicklow.
Some people have become concerned that the fraudulent cases will mean the end of the second WHV scheme. The Irish Echo understands that while all classes of Australian visas are under constant review, there is not currently any move to end the second Working Holiday Visa. However, it is likely that such incidences of fraud would be considered in a review of the scheme.
In spite of the risks, some people have posted on internet sites about how they have fraudulently acquired a second WHV. “I’ve heard of some people submitting random ABN numbers and having their extension granted without any problems,” one poster wrote.
People convicted of fraud under the Migration Act may be liable for imprisonment for up to 10 years, and/or a fine of up to $110,000.
Have you been the victim of an ABN scam? Let us know in confidence on 02 9555 9199 or editor@irishecho.com.au

Local photographers and International NGO’s, an African perspective

2009-10-28T12:10:59Z

Last week I wrote a post examining how the failure of international NGO’s to employ local photographers could have a negative effect on human rights and governance in developing countries.

My argument was basically that international NGOs tend to employ international photographers instead of local ones. There are I’m sure good reasons for this. However it cuts off one of the most important revenue steams for local photographers, many who can’t sustain a living and inevitability give up photography. This has an impact on the ability for local people to report local stories, which weakens local journalism and with it political accountability.

I’ve had two interesting responses, both worth a shout.

Bruno De Cock is the Photo Editor at MSF. He’s responsible for developing some of the most interesting and challenging photography about humanitarianism on the web, and is someone I really respect. MSF have a strong commitment to using photography as an advocacy tool. He writes,

‘I think the situation in Asia is different than in Africa. Sadly enough African photographers seem to have a lot more trouble getting access to useful tools like the internet and a website, which makes it harder to find local talent.
I recently checked the list of photographers participating in the African Photography Festival in Mali and was dissapointed to find that most selected photographers are no longer living in their country of origin.’

Bruno makes good points. Of course the reason though that there are so few African photographers living in their country of origin that are featured at the festival is in part because they could not sustain a living from photography. It’s a vicious circle.

Since then Dolphine Email, an internationally award winning Kenyan photographer has got in touch with A Developing Story. She writes,

I am a good photographer thanks to my interaction with great international photographers that were kind enough to share their knowledge. I am currently under the mentorship of one great photographer who will not stop until African photographers earn their place in the world.

It is true though that if a fellow local photographer or I were to walk into an international NGO’s office asking for work against an international photographer, even with a very impressive portfolio, guess who gets the job… you are right.

I am fortunate not to be dependent on my photography, I’d be a pauper if that were the case.

It’s not the international photographer’s fault, you can’t blame them, they like everyone else are looking to make a living and won’t complain if at the moment they get to keep the whole pie… the NGO on the other hand, facilitate this. Their excuse, he/she has experience.

Well a photographer may have experience with his tool of trade – the camera – but in storytelling, to be fair one must understand the issue like the back of their hand… that is the local photographer, this photographer has the experience in the issue and will most probably present it in balance way.

The local photographer was there when the issue started…is there as it goes on…will be there to follow up the aftermath. He/she doesn’t have to go back home after five weeks because of the budget. But most important, he/she sees him/herself in the subject’s shoes… thus treats the subject differently, with more respect… this could be them in a flash of a second.

When two opposing parties are in conflict… there may be bloodshed… but in the midst of it, there may be two people from the same opposing parties getting married.

Sometimes the issue is not always black and white, there’re grey areas and they too matter even if they represent the minority opinion.

That is what the local photographer brings to the table most of the time. That just like any other community, we are diverse, have different opinions and it isn’t always hopeless. That people in a slum have many problems but they chat with their neighbors and yes laugh.

I challenge you to go online and compare the images projecting Africans as suffering to those projecting them as happy… by international photographers… the suffering tips the scale.

Yes the images of conflict and suffering bring to attention issues that need addressing and may get worse if ignored…it is unfair to project us as the miserable, hopeless people because guess what… we are happy most of the time… even in the midst of the chaos that surround us… and the world needs to know that side too.’

A Developing Story would like to thank Bruno and Dolphine for their thoughtful contributions.

Please, No More Pictures of Dying Africans

2009-11-09T07:30:53Z

An interesting point of view about the NGOization of African imagery has been posted by Paul Melcher on the Black Star Rising blog. You can read the full post here.

I don’t entirely agree with him. I think its actually a bit of a cliche that NGO’s only show pictures of despair coming out of Africa. Actually a lot of what they show is sanitized. The blogger Adam Westbrook got it spot on when he said that what the audience really wants is balance, not a drip diet of misery, or cynical and self congratulatory communications.

‘We want true stories, and we want them as gritty as the real world is. But we also want balance – and we recognise a third-world-cliche when we see it.’

Here’s an excerpt from Paul’s post:

More and more of the documentary photography we see these days comes from NGOs, rather than the editorial press.

Rich people give money to NGOs, which then hire photographers to document their work. And because these organizations operate in the poor, war- and disease-stricken areas of Africa, that is what we see from NGOs. As international photojournalism from the editorial press continues to dwindle, NGO photojournalism may soon be all we see of Africa.

Just imagine what your perception of the United States would be if all you saw were images of 9/11, Katrina, crime-plagued ghettos and nothing else. Would you ever consider coming here for a vacation?

A Perverse Playground

Africa, or at least its despair, has become a perverse playground for too many photojournalists. It’s become a place to earn your merit badge as a documentary photographer. And so we get the same photo essays and multimedia presentations repeated over and over again, to the saturation point.

Interestingly, however, most of these merit-badge projects can only be found online today. Magazines won’t publish them even if they are technically brilliant; the editors, like their readers, are fed up — bored.

Knocking Knock

2009-11-02T12:47:32Z

The duel between the Catholic Church in the form of Archbishop Neary and clairvoyant Joe Costello continues. The Archbishop has claimed that Coleman’s predictions risk misleading god’s people and undermining the faith but the clairvoyant continues to attract large crowds.

A letter in last Wednesday’s Irish Times provides the funniest but most accurate response to the controversy.

Madam,

I’m a little confused that the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, is discouraging people from gathering at Knock to witness apparitions which he believes “risk misleading God’s people and undermining faith”.

This is the the same “faith” that believes that a cosmic Jew who was his own father by a virgin can enable you to live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh, drink his blood and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from something invisible called your soul that is present because a woman made from a rib was convinced by a talking snake to eat an apple from a magical tree.

Yours etc,

Liam Meehan,
La Vista Avenue,
Killester, Dublin 5.

Charlie Brooker | Some people want children to get 'sleeping lessons'. Happy to oblige . . .

2009-10-26T00:05:12Z

You'd think nodding off was something that most of us learn without help. Seemingly not, if health campaigners are to be believed

Sleep is underrated. According to experts, it is as important to your health as exercise, nutrition and not being set on fire. And it's the easiest route to self- improvement imaginable, far more straightforward and achievable than 100 squat thrusts. All you have to do is lie around doing nothing for eight hours. So simple, even a corpse could do it.

But not, apparently, a child. Concerned health campaigners want Britain's schoolchildren to be given "sleep lessons" to teach them the benefits of regular night-long slumber. This is an exciting development, because it raises the prospect of "sleep exams" – practical snoozing assessments that even the thickest kid could pass with their eyes closed.

It's easy to sleep when you're a toddler. Your mind and body skitter around all day until they burn themselves out, leaving you blissfully knackered when the sun goes down. You've only got two modes: on and off, like a blender. But once you reach adulthood, things are altogether less binary. You've got responsibilities and concerns, not to mention an alarm clock with a sarcastically oversized face sitting beside the bed mocking any attempt at shuteye. Chances are you've spent your day mumbling to co-workers, bumping into furniture and performing pedestrian chores. Your brain spends the daylight hours in a state of drowsy semi-consciousness, and only decides to spring into life when the lights go out.

The insomniac brain comes in various flavours; different personality types you're forced to share your skull with for several hours. It's like being trapped in a lift with someone who won't shut up. Sometimes your companion is a peppy irritant who passes the time by humming half- remembered TV theme tunes until 7am. Other times it's a morose critic who has recently compiled a 1,500-page report on your innumerable failings and wants to run over it with you a few times before going to print. Worst of all is the hyper-aware sportscaster who offers an uninterrupted commentary describing which bits of your body are currently the least comfortable. No matter where you put that leg, he won't be satisfied. And he's convinced you've got one arm too many.

This is the point at which "sleep lessons" might actually come in handy. Not when you're a kid (they'll only baffle you), but when you're an adult who spends several hours each night staring at the inside of your eyelids, exploring desolate inner dimensions on a rickety mental tricycle. That's when you need all the help you can get.

But practical tips only, please. No one needs to be told how important it is for your health. We've all experienced the aftermath of a sleepless night. You shuffle through the next day feeling fuzzily toxic, as though all your internal organs have been for a 20-mile run and haven't had a hot bath yet. I've got a phrase for it: "time-poisoning".

Anyway, in a bid to pre-empt the health professionals, here's a list of insomnia "dos and don'ts" guaranteed to give you a good night's sleep:

DO keep your eyes closed.

DON'T try to convince yourself you're asleep by making snoring noises.

DO focus on slowing your breathing down as much as possible. A handy tip is to imagine there's a speed camera pointing at your face; a magic speed camera that can photograph air. If you inhale or exhale too quickly, it'll fire a sharpened steel bolt into your forehead. Keep thinking about this all night.

DON'T go to bed wearing a makeshift crown fashioned from coathangers and bells – and if you do, don't sit upright violently shaking your head from side to side until sunrise.

DO keep the "worrying cells" of your brain occupied. Playing simple word games in your head is an excellent tactic. If it helps, imagine you're a contestant on Countdown, but try not to picture the gigantic clock looming behind you on the studio wall, with its huge sweeping hand marking the frantic passage of time, its hideous unbroken sweep impassively signifying the silent extinction of second after second . . . the hand that describes an arc . . . an arc that becomes a circle . . . a circle that becomes a spiral . . . a spiral that mirrors your twisting descent as you corkscrew downwards through time itself, plunging ever deeper into a void of meaningless decay . . . If you start thinking about that, quickly interrupt yourself by imagining Jeff Stelling throwing to a break.

DON'T stay in bed if you haven't fallen asleep with 30 minutes. Instead, get up and do something practical, such as driving a car or operating some heavy machinery.

DO drink nine litres of warm milk before bed.

There. Simple. And if none of that works, eat some drugs, use a different pillow, or saw your head off and stick it on a pole made of lullabies. Piece of piss.

Next week: how to solve the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Charlie Brooker

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Editor as star

2009-10-26T14:59:32Z

Kai Diekmann, the head of Bild, the gigantic German newspaper, is a journalistic celebrity of a sort we don’t have here: utterly charming, lustily egotistical, brashly opinionated, infuriating to those he infuriates (a friend of mine calls him Germany’s Roger Ailes), beloved to his fans, witty, quick, clever, innovative, and never afraid of the spotlight.

Now he has a blog. And a store. I’d heard about his blog for sometime but it wasn’t seen outside the walls of his office. Now it has gone public. He says he’ll do it for 100 days. I predict he’ll be addicted.

There’s a 360-degree tour of his office, starring him. Click on his possessions and learn more – about, for example, a piece of the Berlin Wall signed by Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George Bush (41). He has a bio and lots of photos. Diekmann interviews himself (Why are you writing a blog, he asks. “I’m just incurably vain,” he answers). He posts video he shoots himself – “ich bin Videoblogger-in-Chief für Bild.de” – including one in Baghdad and another of him getting a shot. He brags about the commercials for Bild made by Bild’s readers, who understand its brand well. He links gleefully to an interview with a competitive publisher and scion of a German publishing family (founders of Der Spiegel) who says the esteemed Süddeutsche Zeitung won’t be around on paper in 20 years – but Bild will. He tweaks the liberal competition, the taz. On his “fan club” page, he shows his critics (and I thought I was brave exposing underendowment). In his store, he sells books (starting with his own) and hoodies, buttons, totebags, and mugs with his own mug (as Che Diekmann) and Bild branding as “the red-hot chili paper.”

The guy has balls. And he’s getting attention, which surely is the goal.

I can’t imagine Bill Keller or Marcus Brauchlidoing this, can you? Not even Alan Rusbridger or Will Lewis. Not even the editor of the New York Post (who’s he?). Piers Morgan is the closest thing I can imagine to Kai in the anglophone world, but he had to leave editing to become a star. In Germany, Kai is a brand. In the staid world of anglophone journalism, that’ll probably be sniffed at. But on the social web, I see little choice but to be open and human and even – gasp – have a sense of humor.

I have some personal history here to disclose. See my own story about introducing Diekmann to the Flip video camera here. I later went to speak to editors and executives of Bild’s parent company, Axel Springer, at their retreat in Italy. There, Diekmann was constantly recording every event with his own version of the Flip camera, to his colleagues’ grudging acquiescence. Does he do this all the time? I asked. Yes, they moaned. Sorry, I said. At that meeting, I pushed them all to blog and I’m not suggesting that has anything to do with Diekmann’s effort. But I’m glad to see lots of blogs emerging from Axel Springer. On a very different level, see the blog by the editor of Die Welt. The form knows no limits.

Diekmann took the Flip and surprised me by not just equipping his journalists – other editors’ reflex – but instead equipping his readers. He took interactivity and didn’t just allow readers to comment on what his paper does – as other editors do – but instead had them define his brand. He now has taken the blog and surprised me again, making a comment on the form and his paper and his industry and himself. And it’s fun to watch.

: Later: I left a comment on Diekmann’s blog and in no time, I got email from him. He’s reading what his public is writing.

Five good habits to help protect you from online attacks

2009-10-28T14:30:13Z

I blame my friends who work at three-letter agencies for the United States government. They are the ones who invited me to the Black Hat Technical Security Conference in Las Vegas to drink, have a good time, and learn how completely ignorant I was about online security.

Today, I am a changed person. What I previously deemed to be adequate, if not savvy, security precautions for my quotidian web use, I learned was the same as leaving a full camera bag with the top flipped open on the front seat of my parked car. Sure, the doors are locked, but it would take only the slightest initiative and about six seconds for someone to break the window and walk away with tens of thousands of dollars in gear. I know what you’re thinking. You would never do that. Okay, then take the quiz below. If you answer yes to any of these questions, I’ve got news for you: You’re way more vulnerable than you think.

Do any of your passwords contain a word that can be found in an English language dictionary or in a dictionary covering pop-culture references from the last 100 years?
Do you ever close a web window that is signed into an account of some kind without logging out of the account first?
Ever log in to your bank or credit card account without first checking if the lock symbol is active on your browser window?
Ever log in to your bank account or 401(k) from a free WiFi access point?
Ever open an email when you’re unsure where it came from?
Ever log in to a secure site from a borrowed computer?

Why we are the way we are
In spite of the news stories that circulate daily about online security breaches, we are surprisingly apathetic about the threats they pose to us personally. It’s like backing up your computer — it’s a secondary concern until you’re hit with disaster. Then, suddenly, you’re a convert to the church of redundancy.

Unfortunately recovering from a security breach is nowhere near as easy as recovering from a lost hard drive. With the latter you at least have an idea of what you’ve lost. You can lament it over a glass of wine and move on with your life. A security breach places the control of your social, financial, and photographic life in the hands of someone else. And the ramifications will potentially haunt you long after the initial breach.

Consider the following. A friend of mine had a huge falling out with a close friend, who guessed her email password and sent an inflammatory email to her entire address book. Most of the recipients realized her email address book had been compromised, but those who didn’t know her well were shocked. Ultimately she was able to contact everyone and inform them what happened — but you can imagine how things could have gone worse.

My friend, like many of us, never thought twice about the weak password on her email account. The convenience of an easy-to-type, easy-to-remember password took priority over other considerations. She could not fathom anyone using her email account maliciously.

This is what gets us into trouble. We’re good people and have an inherent problem thinking like criminals. It’s hard for us to see our online assets through criminal eyes and predict how to protect ourselves.

Squatting
A while back I was uploading images to the FTP directory of my web site when I was hit with a disk space error. An examination of my FTP server revealed dozens of unidentified folders, most filled with illicit pornography. My head spun. Given the nature of the material, I contacted my internet service provider, filed an official support ticket, and had them remove the files in case there were any legal protocols involved. A hacker had broken my FTP directory password and was serving up an entire website from my FTP directories for months without my knowledge. Oh man, I was pissed.

Unfortunately there was no way to trace the hacker. Moreover, and frightening to consider, if the authorities had found the illegal site before I did, I could have been arrested. An investigation would have revealed I had been hacked, but who needs that kind of grief?

If you’re utilizing a portfolio service like liveBooks that is monitored by a professional IT staff, you’re safer, but only if your password is strong. Weak passwords are the easiest way for a hacker to access to your account. If you do get hacked, liveBooks keeps a backup of your online portfolio going back a week onsite, and going back a month at a secure offsite facility. Recovery usually takes an hour. But don’t depend on those protocols unless you absolutely have to. Adopting safe practices is a lot easier and less expensive.

Good habits
So here we are at the basic security primer for photographers, or anyone else who spends most of their time online. This is by no means a definitive list, but it will help you think more carefully about your online habits. The information here was gathered from Black Hat, Craig Butterworth at the National White Collar Crime Center, and Carl Slawinski from Agile Web Solutions.

NEW HABIT 1 — Free WiFi: Never, ever, ever log in to your bank account or credit card account when you’re on a free WiFi access point. The reason you have to use a password to access most WiFi networks, especially your own, is because that password encrypts the information floating through the air between your computer and the WiFi hub. If the network is open, so is the information your sending over it.

NEW HABIT 2 — Passwords: The days of passwords drawn from kid’s birthdays, dog names, and Star Wars characters are over. I have seen a brute-force attack crack a weak password in minutes. With today’s powerful computers and free cracking dictionaries and rainbow tables available online, hackers can let computers run for days while they sort out passwords.

One of the most effective ways to keep your passwords strong, like ox, is to invest in a product like the highly regraded 1Password from Agile Web Solutions. I have been using the product for years, but only after my discussion with folks who make 1Password did I take my security to the next level.

1Password generates strong passwords, which it stores for you. When you need the password, the application will enter it for you with an easy key stroke. The generated passwords are so convoluted that you’d never be able to remember them, but that’s the point. 1Password is also on the iPhone so you can take your passwords with you. The file that they use to store your passwords is heavily encrypted and would take a supercomputer 128 years to crack it.

NEW HABIT 3 — Bluetooth: A friend at Black Hat showed me his iPhone. The interface didn’t look like any iPhone I’d ever seen. He had hacked the operating system and installed a host of applications that you won’t find in the iTunes app store. He activated one of them as we were sitting in a Las Vegas bar and a list of every iPhone and Blackberry in our immediate vicinity appeared on his screen. Accessing their phonebooks was a button push away.

Bluetooth is a useful communication protocol for headsets and other devices. It has a limited range of about 30 feet, so there’s no reason to get too paranoid. But if you’re in a crowded public place and you’re not using your headset, turn it off.

NEW HABIT 4 — Email, certificates, and secure login: If you’ve ever noticed your web browser address bar, you’ll notice that it sometimes starts with “https” instead of “http.” HTTPS is a secure, encrypted protocol that also activates the lock symbol in your web browser. You’ll see this typically when you make any credit card transaction.

What you probably didn’t know is that some banks will ask you for your login and password on a regular HTTP page and then pass that information to the secure login screen. The problem is, when you enter your login and password in the fields of an unsecured page, it is getting transferred from your computer to the bank’s computer in the clear.

The best way to handle that is to look for the lock symbol and the HTTPS before entering any sensitive information. If the bank home page is not secure, navigate to the dedicated, secure HTTPS login page and then bookmark it. Gmail and other web-based email services are the same way. There are two ways to log in to Gmail — secure and nonsecure.

Have you ever seen a warning in from your web browser telling you that a site has an expired, unknown or invalid security (SSL) certificate? Have you ever said, I trust this site and continued on past the warning? That’s just dumb.

SSL certificate protocols exist to for a reason. If a nefarious hacker sets up what’s called a man-in-the-middle attack, they are presenting you with what looks like the web site you’re supposed to log into, but it’s not. It’s their page, and it’s just waiting to grab your login information when you type it in. If you come across a secure certificate warning DO NOT CONTINUE. I don’t care how inconvenient it is. Sometimes companies let their certificates lapse and an expired warning pops up. Let them know; they can fix it in a matter of minutes.

On the email front, most of us are pretty savvy about not opening attachments from people we don’t know. This includes MS Word documents, which can run macros that play havoc with your computer. Some of the people at the hackers conference told me that they go as far as never accepting Microsoft documents, making their friends save any documents in RTF format.

Lastly, if you get a message from your bank or credit card asking you to log in and update something, navigate to the site manually, never via the link provided in the email.

NEW HABIT 5 — Close the door and update your blog: This is a mistake everyone makes. After watching hours of your life get sucked down the Facebook black hole, many people forget to log out. It’s the same for other portals and networks that are mostly for fun. ALWAYS log out. If you walk in, walk out the same way, and close the door.

If you have a Wordpress blog that you are self-hosting, keep up to date with the latest release. Two weeks ago there was a vulnerability discovered and worm was released that affected old versions of Wordpress. The worm played havoc with thousands of blogs. If you’re not the type to maintain your Wordpress or Moveable Type software, utilize a Wordpress.com, Typepad, or Posterous account — they’ll make sure you’ve got the latest security patches installed automatically.

Hackers are misunderstood
There is a fundamental misunderstanding about who is a hacker. In the days before the media’s adoption and re-branding of the word “hacker,” a hacker was considered a righteous person. They were coders and application creators that shared their creations with the internet community. In fact the Macintosh computer that I’m typing on now was born from a hacker named Steve Wozniak. Since the media’s appropriation of the word, it has come to have a pejorative connotation. So a distinction has evolved to separate the good guys from the bad. White-hat hackers, being the good guys, and black-hat hackers being the criminals.

I mention this because not all hackers are criminals. Many of the people who call themselves hackers are of the original ilk. Curiosity about systems is not a crime, crimes are crimes. As nefarious as the Black Hat hackers conference sounds, there are a lot of good people there finding exploits and reporting them so they can be fixed. If it wasn’t for these dedicated folks, the internet would be in a lot worse shape.

Don’t be lazy
Most of the vulnerabilities that we are open to exist because we are lazy. We can’t afford to be anymore. Adopting simple good practices can truly protect your identity and wallet. So if doing anything I suggest here seems like a pain in the ass, it probably is. So is carrying my camera bag into restaurants and other inappropriate places, but at least then I can be absolutely sure I didn’t leave it on the front seat of my car.

Facebook provides option to 'memorialise' profiles

2009-10-27T22:51:19Z

Shared by Markham
If I die, please don't even think of doing this. I'd rather just die.

Facebook has announced it will give its members the option to "memorialise" the profiles of members who have died.

UL Trampoline Club II

2009-10-26T09:32:00Z

I've put the entire set of photos from the UL Trampoline Club shoot in this gymnastics gallery.

Uganda: Coffee

2009-10-26T16:14:14Z

Last month I went back to Uganda, almost a year after I’d moved away. I took photos for the International Trade Center and Good African Coffee. And every morning in Liberia when I pour myself a cup of good African coffee, I’m glad I went.

Columbia Journalism Review takes out-of-work journos on as fellows

2009-10-16T13:20:21Z

The Columbia Journalism Review has announced it will launch a progam called the 'Encore Fellowship', a new initiative designed to give 'downsized professionals a writing position as well as support to help them choose how best to use their experience in the years ahead.'

The fellowship proposition comes in tough times for the news industry which has suffered major financial blows in advertising and subscription revenue due to the recession. The losses have forced many news organisations to rethink costs, make layoffs and even close their doors in some cases. As a result, it has been estimated that some 16,000 journalists were put out of work in 2008.

After receiving a generous grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, CJR decided to put the money toward helping some of these journalists, choosing out-of-work senior reporters 'who have recently left their jobs because of the industry's economic condition, but who are not ready for traditional retirement,' to join the fellowship.

The magazine announced it had selected its inaugural journalists today, naming Lisa Anderson, formerly a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune; Jill Drew, an ex-associate editor for The Washington Post; Terry McDermott, previously a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Don Terry who was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for the New York Times series "How Race is Lived in America", as the first four. The selected reporters will receive "stipends on par with other important journalism fellowships," stated a CJR press release.

"CJR is thrilled to be able to play a critical role not only in assisting these distinguished journalists, but our hope is that they will inspire downsized journalists across the county, who will benefit from the examples set by this inaugural class of fellows in developing their encore careers," said Victor Navasky, chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Editors of the review said: "We hope this innovative program inspires other foundations and other organizations to set up "Encore" programs of their own, to take advantage of the vast pool of journalist talent that is out there."

Source: Columbia Journalism Review

Let Them Eat Plumpy'Nut

2009-10-08T20:02:08Z

Does the food aid that goes to humanitarian crisis sites hurt more than it nourishes? And is the answer a peanut-flavored paste?

"See You Soon, If We’re Still Alive"

2009-10-16T19:18:26Z

The only two Westerners living on their own in Kandahar have been bombed, ambushed, and nearly sold to kidnappers. Here's what they've learned about the country where war just won't end.

What a Pest

2009-10-19T01:39:58Z

Why the Black Death still won't die.

Saturn at equinox

2009-10-19T16:32:17Z

Checking in with NASA's Cassini spacecraft, our current emissary to Saturn, some 1.5 billion kilometers (932 million miles) distant from Earth, we find it recently gathering images of the Saturnian system at equinox. During the equinox, the sunlight casts long shadows across Saturn's rings, highlighting previously known phenomena and revealing a few never-before seen images. Cassini continues to orbit Saturn, part of its extended Equinox Mission, funded through through September 2010. A proposal for a further extension is under consideration, one that would keep Cassini in orbit until 2017, ending with a spectacular series of orbits inside the rings followed by a suicide plunge into Saturn on Sept. 15, 2017. (previously: 1, 2, 3). (23 photos total)

From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini's wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings, and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun's disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, at a distance of approximately 847,000 km (526,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

SO MUCH TO FEAR Accounts from Somali Refugees in Kenya, by Marcus Bleasdale

2009-10-16T23:36:44Z

If you wish to embed this feature on your website, please click here and follow the instructions.

great art is forged on a molotov of doubt, fear and conviction.

Think Again: God

2009-10-15T22:21:06Z

85 wordpress plugins for blogging journalists

2009-10-14T10:08:17Z

Having reached a potential plateau in my addiction to Wordpress plugins* I thought I should blog about the plugins I use, those I’ve installed in preparation for potential use, and those I may install at some point in the future. Of the 85 or so plugins installed on my blog I ‘only’ have around 30-40 that are active – the rest have either been used in the past or are ready in case I need them at some point in future. Some are one-click installs; others you need to put PHP in your templates; instructions are generally given on the plugin page. I’d love to know what plugins you find useful on your own blog.

Content plugins

Add Sig allows you to add a custom signature to the bottom of posts – particularly useful if you have a multi-author blog.

Embed iFrames allows you to do just that – useful for embedding any content that uses iFrames, e.g. maps, spreadsheets, widgets etc.

Exec PHP allows you to execute PHP in blog posts. I’ve not had to yet, but you never know…

FeedWordPress is an aggregation plugin that pulls any RSS feeds you specify and publishes them on your blog. Any user clicking on a particular post will be taken to the original. This is very useful if you blog elsewhere or want to aggregate coverage of an event for an eventblog (although there are more specific packages for that now). Previously I’ve used it to pull posts from my Posterous blog so I can blog via email.

In Series is a great plugin if you’re writing a series – this creates a new box when you start writing a post that allows you to assign it to a ’series’. Sadly the plugin site reports “There have been reports of minor breakage in WordPress 2.6, and complete failure in WordPress 2.7.” So I’m now trying out Organize Series and Series, which claim to do something similar.

Microkid’s Related Posts allows you to manually add related posts.

Postalicious will automatically publish your bookmarks (from delicious, ma.gnolia, Google Reader, Reddit, or Yahoo Pipes) to your blog. You can specify a particular tag, frequency etc.

Star Rating for Reviews allows you to give star ratings in any blog post – ideal for reviews.

Tagaroo will suggest tags based on the content of the post you’re writing, and related Flickr images you could use.

User Photo displays an image of the author next to the post (this takes some tweaking with the template code) – particularly useful for multi-author blogs.

XML Google Maps allows you to easily insert Google Map or Google Earth Plugin Maps into your blog.

Comment plugins

Spam filter plugin Akismet is an absolute must for any blog, filtering out obvious spam and holding back the dubious stuff for moderation.

BackType Connect publishes comments about your blog on other social media sites – so if someone comments on your post on Twitter, Digg, FriendFeed, Hacker News or Reddit and links to it this will pull it onto your site. This sounds like a great solution to a modern problem, but in practice it generally means lots of tweets saying the same thing – ‘here’s a blog post’, so I’ve disabled it until that is addressed.

Capture the Conversation is a similar plugin which uses your post tags to look for related tweets. This gives you more control but means the more tags you add the less likely it is to work, which obviously has implications for search engine optimisation – although you can change the settings to only look for the first tag. It appears to be particularly useful for ‘breaking news’ posts where people are talking about the issue on Twitter and you can see this from the post itself. Presentation could be better – you can customise this a little in settings too.

cForms II allows you to create multiple and customisable contact forms across your blog, including multiple forms on the same page. I’ve never had cause to use it yet, but it’s worth having just in case.

coComment simple integration (direct download) integrates your comments system with the coComment system so users can log in, tag and share comments and keep track of them via coComment.

Intense Debate Comments does the same for the comment management service Intense Debate. I seem to remember this was created for me by Intense Debate so I don’t have a download link, but I disabled the plugin when I realised it had accessibility issues, and made comments invisible from search engines.

DoFollow is a plugin which disables the default ‘nofollow’ setting on Wordpress blogs (which tells search engines to disregard any links in comments). This means that links posted in comments benefit from ‘Google juice’. You can set the plugin to only remove ‘nofollow’ after a certain period of time so you can delete spam comments before then. I found that announcing the plugin attracted too many spammers, so I disabled it.

WP-FacebookConnect allows users to login and comment with their Facebook account and publish comments into their Facebook newsfeed. There’s some fiddling required.

outbrain allows users to rank blog posts – WP-postratings did something similar, as did WP-StarRateBox.

Seesmic WordPress plugin allows people to record video comments. I seem to remember this was the plugin that forced me to move to self-hosted Wordpress and, amusingly, I’ve only ever had one video comment since.

Subscribe To Comments allows users to receive email updates when an individual post receives a new comment. Simple but extremely useful, and so far used by hundreds of visitors to the blog.

Top Commentators Widget shows which users comment the most on your blog. Sadly it only starts counting once installed, and the presentation needs some attention, so I disabled it, but it’s a nice plugin which showcases the biggest contributors.

WP-Forum creates a forum on your blog – instructions on the plugin page.

Blog management plugins

BackUpWordpress allows you to easily backup your Wordpress database – a useful habit to get into in case something goes wrong with your blog hosting or you want to move your blog to another host. The plugin also allows you to schedule regular backups.

Cronless Postie allows you to publish blog posts via email. There are other ways to do this – for example, emailing your post to Posterous and then pulling the RSS feed from there using a syndication plugin like FeedWordPress (see above).

mobileadmin makes it easier to manage your blog via mobile phone as it “gives a mobile-friendly admin UI to browsers by user agent. Includes support for iPhone/iPod-Touch”. However, this is currently disabled as activating it triggers a fatal error (who died?)

Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu changes the admin view on Wordpress so that it uses drop-down menus, making it easier to manage.

Plugin Manager “lets you to view, download and install plugins from wordpress.org from an AJAX’ed interface, instead of manually downloading, extracting and uploading each plugin.” It’s really very very good.

podPress is a plugin to use WordPress for Podcasting. I’ve never particularly used this, but useful to have if I ever need it.

Post Template allows you to create templates for posts with the same structure – perfect for reviews and series, and also useful to keep a multi-author blog consistent.

Role Manager allows you to assign different levels of access to different contributors to your blog – for example, only allowing a user to contribute to a particular category.

Textplace is “a plugin to include commonly used text across multiple posts, pages and templates”.

Wordpress Automatic Upgrade allows you to upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress with a few clicks. Essential.

WP Security scans for security vulnerabilities in your Wordpress installation.

Presentation and widgets

Bunny’s Print CSS creates a stylesheet for printing so users printing pages from your blog can avoid endless pages of widgets, comments or other page furniture (including design elements).

Easy Popular Posts shows you your most popular posts – useful to install in a sidebar (you’ll need to put a line of PHP in the sidebar template for this).

Get Recent Comments provides extra customisation of the comments widget.

Global Translator “translates a blog in 34 different languages (English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian,…) by wrapping four different online translation engines (Google Translation Engine, Babelfish Translation Engine, FreeTranslations.com, Promt).” The results are as patchy as you’d imagine, but take a stage out for users who may use Google Translate to read your blog.

Hot Friends creates a blogroll/friends widget based on the number of comments a blog owner makes. I’ve never had the time to set this up properly and it may not suit the nature of the OJB, but it sounds interesting.

KB Advanced RSS Widget gives you additional control over the RSS widget, e.g. which fields of the feed to display and how to format them.

KB Countdown Widget counts “the years/months/days since, until, or between events. Optional bar graph for tracking progress between two dates.” Useful if you’re blogging up to an event, or setting yourself a challenge, or launching something.

Random Redirect allows users to be taken to a random post from your blog.

Related Ways to Take Action “makes it super easy to connect your readers to ways to take action based on the content of your posts. The Plugin identifies the top three keywords for each post and then searches for related campaigns from from Change.org, GlobalGiving.com, Idealist.org, DonorsChoose.org, Kiva, Care2 and over twenty other social change websites. It then automatically loads the top three campaigns for those keywords at the bottom of each of your posts.” In reality the guesses the plugin makes can be a bit hit-and-miss, but on a more campaign-based blog they may be more accurate.

Sort by Comments “Changes the order of posts so that the most recently commented posts show up first. Also displays last comment with the posts.”

Theme Switcher allows users to switch themes. You need to put a line of code in your sidebar to create the dropdown (instructions buried here) – remember you’ll have to do this in every theme you have installed so that users can switch back. You’ll also need to make sure that you’ve deleted any themes that don’t work or you don’t like, as this will pull them all up by default.

WordPress Mobile Edition shows mobile visitors a mobile version of the site. You have to install the theme as well.

WP Web Scraper is “an easy to implement web scraper for WordPress. Display realtime data from any websites directly into your posts, pages or sidebar.” I’ve not had cause to use it yet, but could be very interesting.

RSS and SMS

FeedBurner FeedSmith makes sure that users subscribing to your RSS feed are redirected to your Feedburner feed, allowing you to keep track of numbers of subscribers, etc.

RSScloud is a plugin that allows users to be more quickly updated when you post something. Only one RSS reader supports it, but the technology appears to be gathering speed.

RSS Feed Signature allows you to add a customised signature to the end of your RSS feed. Sadly, the developer link appears to be dead. This is the only alternative I can find.

SMS Text Message allows users to receive text updates from your site – presumably in the US only, where the receiver pays for texts. It creates a widget where users can enter their phone number to subscribe. I’ve just installed this so let me know if it works.

Analytics, SEO and Social Media Marketing

All In One SEO Pack is another top-of-the-list plugin that ensures your blog content is optimised for search engines. In addition to the general settings page this adds a box below your draft posts where you can customise the title, description and metatags on individual posts.

Digg This detects if the user has come from Digg and displays a Digg This badge for them to Digg the story. You’ll have to add a line of PHP in your post template.

Google Analyticator makes it easy to enable Google Analytics on your blog and measure where visitors are coming from, what terms they are searching for, etc.

Google News Sitemap creates a sitemap to help Google News better index your site.

Google XML Sitemaps does the same: generates “a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO”

Landing Sites shows the user posts related to the search they’ve made that brought them to your site.

Permalink Redirect ensures that only one URL is used for each post and users (including search engines) arriving at others are redirected accordingly.

ShareThis creates a button at the bottom of posts for users to bookmark that post on sites like Delicious, Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook etc. as well as email it to a friend. For me this replaced similar plugins: Sociable, WP-Email and wp-notable.

TweetMeme Button creates a badge at the top of each post showing how many times it has been tweeted and allowing the user to retweet it themselves.

WordPress.com Stats tells you how many people are reading, what they’re reading, and what searches brought them here.

WP Greet Box shows a different message to visitors “depending on which site they are coming from. For example, you can ask Digg visitors to Digg your post, Google visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed”

WP Super Cache makes your site faster. “If your site is struggling to cope with the daily number of visitors, or if your site appears on Digg.com, Slashdot or any other popular site then this plugin is for you.”

WP_DeliciousPost submits your posts and pages to Delicious, allowing you to include tagging and private links. WP_LinkTools does much the same.

Plugins to make money

Amazon Widgets Shortcodes adds a button to your post editor that allows you to easily insert an Amazon carousel, slideshow, or link to an Amazon product through your affiliate store – very useful if you’re reviewing products.

Buy Me A Beer places a widget at the bottom of every post and in the sidebar allowing users to donate to your PayPal account if they liked your post (there is also a ‘coffee’ option).

Paypal Widget does much the same, but without the rather more affable beer element. I’ve never had cause to enable this, but again, useful to have.

Register Plus creates an enhanced registration page for users to log on to your blog – this opens up opportunities for restricting access if that’s what you want. I never have, so I’ve never used it. The same developers have also made Donate Plus, which has similar potential. And SponsorMe is worth looking at too.

wpLicense-reloaded allows you to select a Creative Commons license for each blog post individually.

*When I started writing this post, it was 61. Some ‘plateau’. And if 85 isn’t enough for you, see my plugin bookmarks on Delicious.

The Animated GIF is Dead, Long Live the Animated GIF

2009-09-25T12:46:35Z

Jaime Martínez’s Animated gif series breathes new life into an old bit of early internet magic. These photos are mesmerizing and hypnotic. I keep going back to his site to see these micro movies, with wobbling trees and women drenched in wine. Now what more do you need? Get over there and have a look. [...]