Synapseal Arclights

Slow down spam with ZB Block

Sun, 9 Sep 2012 03:01:17 GMT

How would you like a big burly mean bouncer to help keep spam off your forum, blog or website?

I've been trialing a PHP program called ZB Block before I install it on some of the commercial websites I maintain, or recommend it to the folks I consult with regarding their web presence.

I am pleased to report that it has reduced the spammer registrations on my forum to zero, and vastly reduced the number of unnecessary bots scouring the whole website (less bots means less page loads, reducing server load and making the site more responsive for the human visitors)

ZB Block is written in PHP, and requires you to edit your key php files for the site(s) you want it to protect. For instance, with phpBB forum software, there's one file that's loaded every time any page is loaded. It's called (not surprisingly) common.php. You would add a line to the top of this file calling ZB Block.

So, when a forum page is loaded, ZB Block springs into action. Some of the things it checks:

Checks the IP address against known spammer's IP addresses. IP on the list? The visitor is blocked.
Checks for proper browser identification strings. If these strings don't exist, or don't match known strings, the visitor is blocked.
Checks IP address range (ZB Block can be configured to block whole countries). North Korean visitor? Sorry, blocked (if an NK block is enabled)
Checks URL visitor is trying to access. If it contains "funny business" (such as an encoded attack string), the visitor is blocked.
Malicious robot? Bots such as "website scourers" are blocked. These types of bots can really run up one's server load.
. . . and many other checks.

The neat thing about ZB Block is that when it blocks the same unwanted visitor 3 times, it starts sending 503 error codes, and a few visits after that, it sets up a permanent redirect for that visitor back to their point of origin (all of these actions require minimal server load).

ZB Block also keeps logs of blocked visitation attempts, so you can see who got blocked and why (it might be your dear old computer-illiterate Grandma, who just happens to surf the internet like a robot). You can whitelist your IP, and use the test sequence to see if ZB Block is working. You can whitelist other IPs, too , if you wish (like dear old Granny).

ZB Block isn't for html novices, but there's a really active forum over there, with installation instructions for most popular PHP software offerings that are attractive to spammers.

ZB Block - highly recommended to any webmaster running PHP-based content. Sadly, ZB Block only works for PHP-based content, so if your application isn't written in PHP, maybe you can get someone to port ZB Block to whatever language it is written in.

Thoroughly confuzzled? Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

How do you keep a spambot busy?

Fri, 7 Sep 2012 03:49:23 GMT

Everybody's heard the one about "How do you keep an idiot busy?", but I thought it'd be better to keep a spambot busy.

I recently wrote a web page that will keep both types of spambot busy for a long, long time. It will provide hours of ecstasy for any email harvester or comment spambot.

This web page is portable, and doesn't require any coding knowledge to employ. All you need is access to a web server that runs PHP code. You can find the web page here: Plain Text Spamsink Example.
To use it, just copy the code linked above and paste it into a new text file with the suffix of ".php". You can name it anything you like (and you should), so long as the suffix is ".php". Don't use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice/LibreOffice Write for this, just a regular text editor like Notepad, GEdit or Kate. You could also use an HTML editor like Arachnophilia, Mozilla Composer or Bluefish.
Here's what it looks like in action: Spamsink

Let's go over how it works . .
The top section contains your standard HTML header code. You can change the title (where it says "RENAME THIS") if you like.
Right below that is a line with the word "robots" and "NO INDEX, NO FOLLOW". This tells good robots (like Google's little helper) to stay away from this page. Spambots routinely ignore robot directives.
Right under that is the copyright and license statement. It's licensed under the MIT License, so have fun with it. If you do something with it, I'd be happy to hear about it.

Section 1:
• This section of the code is for the comment spammers. It contains hidden form fields with standard names that all filthy spambots love to fill out. The questions may seem crazy, but the robots won't read them - they only read the form names, which are part of the code. Want to know the funny part? Since the form s hidden from humans, any data entered into any of the fields causes the form to reload the page.
• To prevent blind users from getting caught up in this spambot tarpit, there's a warning included before it all begins (screen readers used by the blind don't render CSS, which means they'll see everything - just like a bot)
• Here's what it looks like to robots and those with screen readers: Robot view

Section 2:
• This section starts out with a command to "sleep" for 10 seconds (maybe you were wondering why the example above took so long to load? Now you know). This 10 second delay seems like a couple of lifetimes to a spambot, and it keeps the little bastards from hammering your server with their voractious requests.
• After the 10 second delay, the script grinds out one hundred fake email addresses. Since they're fake, they'll pollute the spambot's database, and may contribute to having that whole run thrown out. In any event, this page will hold the spambot's attentions and keep it from ravaging someone else's site.
• The two links at the bottom are written to always reflect whatever you've named the file, so no matter what links the bot follows, it gets to wait another 10 seconds and another load of fake email addresses.

Section 3:
• All of the above works great, but it only works for your site (or whoever you give the link to). Section 3 is for your own links to external honey pots. Maybe you know a honeypot or another tar pit you want to introduce the bots to. Don't know any honey pots? You can visit Project Honeypot and get a link to one (free signup required). Project Honeypot maintains a database that forum and blog owners cna query when they get a new registration attempt to find out if the prospective member is a spambot or not (this is where this page helps others, if these links are enabled)
• As they are now, these hidden links just go back to the same page (yes, Mr. Bot gets to wait another 10 seconds), so you don't have to do anything with them.
• If you do want to put them to use, just change the "#" to your target URL (leave the quote marks, please) and the "Blah blah blah" stuff to something generic.

Enabling the trap
• You should include some hidden links to your new tarpit (the webpage under discussion here). This should be included in your footer element of your forum or blog software right before the </body> tag, so it loads with every page. It can be included in any wab page, however.
• It should be included like so, so humans can't see it:

<a href="http://www.YOURSITE.url/path/to/spamsink.php" style="display:none;">random random</a>

• If you don't want to include it in your site's code, you can always add it to your robots.txt, which will ensure the bad robots visit it (Malicious bots tend to use the robots.txt as a signpost for "where to go")

Good luck with your tar pit! I thoroughly enjoy looking at my website's access logs and seeing my tarpit pages having "more than an hour" of visitation by dozens of entities, as I know that I'm saving some other schlob from the attentions of a spambot, and/or filling a harvester's database with 100%

Thoroughly confuzzled? Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Quick-n-dirty Linux Slideshow

Thu, 9 Aug 2012 04:00:57 GMT

Here's a quick-n-dirty script for a slideshow on your linux box. Since it runs from the console, it's suitable for any linux box, on any hardware, as long as there's an X server. This includes those cheap digital photo frames that run linux.

Open your favorite text editor and copy & paste the following into it:

#!/bin/bash
find -type d | \
while read I; do
feh -qrzFD5 --geometry 1680x1050 --hide-pointer --scale-down $1
killall slideshow
done

Now, name it whatever you want (mine's called 'slideshow') and chmod +x it (make it executable). After you finish reading the rest of this post and modifying the script to your desires, move it to your binary path (usually this'd be /usr/local/bin). At this point, you can call it in a console from any directory.

In a nutshell, this leverages the linux "find" command to search out all files in the directories specified on the command line (yes, it's a console proggy).
It then passes that list on to the feh program, which is a very small (but very versatile) image viewer.

To break down what we're asking feh to do, I'll go over the command modifiers:
"feh" calls the program
-q = "quiet" or "suppress errors"
-r = "recursive" or "go through all directories under the one the program was started in
-z = "randomize"
-F = "fullscreen"
-D5 = "slideshow delay [number]" - here is where we tell feh to show each image for 5 seconds. This number is always seconds, so 2 minutes would be entered as 120 (seconds).
--geometry 1680x1050 = tells feh the size of your display, so it knows what size to reduce oversized images to. You should change this to your screen resolution.
--hide-pointer = "hides mouse pointer"
--scale-down = resizes large images to fit your screen size
$1 = scripter's code to tell the program to 'use the input it was given when it was started'. In this case, this'll be the list of pictures the 'find' command dug up

"killall_slideshow" makes sure this script dies when you ctrl-c or ESC (quit) it.
"done" tells the script it's finished

To use this script, just call it like this:

slideshow (or whatever you named it) /path/to/images <ENTER>

This script doesn't use many resources, and can be tuned to your desires. It can be easily installed by your package manager. I don't do it, but if you don't want a slideshow, feh can also be used to change your desktop wallpaper (that's for another post, or you can find out how via Google)

Thoroughly confuzzled? Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Karma Consultant

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:00:18 GMT

I'm not usually one to beat my own drum, but times are getting tough.

I am a veteran who's turned to webmastering because it's difficult for me to hold a "regular" job. I have trouble moving around a lot and doing jobs where I don't have to move around much seems the thing to do.
That being said, I've never been good at selling my services. so I figured I'd just blog about some things I've learned over the years that some of you may never have considered, but can save or make you money. I figured that if you make or save money with the information in these blog posts, you could pretend you hired me for a consultation (where I usually tell folks about these things).

You can help me out with a donation via PayPal gift (send to ) or by helping me out with something from my Amazon wishlist
Blog posts that can save or make you money will contain or

Of course, if you need help with getting a new website up, setting up anything you read about here on an existing website, or just any general question, you can drop me a line at You may also be interested in this blog post: Webmaster Services which offers a very general overview of what I can do for you.

For those who take advantage of these tips and show your appreciation, I thank you. If you are a leech on society - and take without giving - karma is a wheel.

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Warming the footsies

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:58:00 GMT

It's cold out thar!

The economy is in the crapper, so if you've turned the heat down to save some money, but have trouble sleeping due to the cold, this hint may be of help.

Just take an empty 2 liter soda bottle and fill it with boiling water (be careful, the boiling water can burn you).
Make sure to fill it to the absolute top, and tighten the cap on it. If you don't fill it up to the top, as the water cools, the bottle will contract. Don't worry about the bottle melting, it's not going to melt except under direct flame (thousands of degrees).

Wrap the hot bottle in a bath towel or old sweatshirt (direct contact with the plastic can cause burns) and stick it down by your footsies (or wherever warmth is needed).

Stay warm!

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

On watermarking images

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:58:48 GMT

There are several ways to watermark images, and several reasons why you should.

We're not going to discuss the "why", but one method of the "how".

There are two common ways to add a watermark: a semi-transparent image and a text string. Most folks think of the semi-transparent image when they think "watermark", as this is the most common. Here is an example of semi-transparent watermark: Draco rear block

Working with a semi-transparent image can be a pain, so IMHO, using a text string is easier (everyone has fonts on their system, but not everyone can make a semi-transparent image). You can see examples of a text string watermark at my Vz58 pictorial.

I've wrangled some scripts together that run on linux, may run on OS X and probably won't run on Windows. Two of these are batch scripts and will add a text string to all images in a directory with the press of the "Enter" key.
Two of them are "single file" use scripts that are preset to use 32 pixel and 16 pixel sized fonts.

All scripts are set to use Times New Roman. Since they're all open source, you can change the settings as you like.

You can find these scripts at the Novarata wiki

Enjoy!

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Vampire solvent

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:06:03 GMT

This is a bulb of garlic

What do you get when you stuff 4 bulbs of garlic and 8 habanero peppers in a mason jar with apple cider vinegar?

Vampire solvent.

This stuff is SOOO garlicky, it's gonna need to be cut with regular cider vinegar before you can use it on your salad.

OTOH, just opening the lid will instantly cause any vampire within 300m to explode. . .

The habanero content makes this unsuitable for weak sisters or unsuspecting children.

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Convert html page to a PDF document (with images)

Thu, 9 Jun 2011 03:58:24 GMT

Today we'll be going over how to convert a html page to a PDF document. Pictures linked the html page are will be included¹.
Yes, you can "print to PDF" from a lot of programs, but that method can include artifacts you didn't want. The following procedure will produce a PDF that is virtually identical in content to the HTML page it was spawned from.
This exercise requires GhostScript and html2ps². Windows users will also need CYGWIN for the bash shell and Perl if they want the "rename" command to work.
GhostScript is pretty standard in linux, and is available for OS X and Windows. html2ps will probably need to be installed via your linux package manager if you run Debian or Ubuntu (or use Debian/Ubuntu repos), or compiled from the source code OS X and Windows (Windows users'll need cygwin installed to do this).

This script is really simple. It takes a single html document³ as input, and turns it into a postscript document, then turns the postscript document into a PDF. If you want to turn a bunch of html pages into one PDF, you can modify this script from t'other day.

Here's the really quick-n-dirty script. Copy and paste it into a text document (but don't use .txt on the end):

#!/bin/bash
html2ps "$1" > "$1".ps &&
ps2pdf *.ps &&
rename -v 's/\.html\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf &&
rename -v 's/\.htm\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf

You'll need to tell the system (linux and OS X) that the script is an executable. To do so, in a terminal run

chmod +x scriptname

Line 1 tells the system it's a bash shell script
Line 2 tells bash to run the html2ps command on whatever html file you pointed it at and name it whatever-its-name-is.ps
Line 3 tells bash to call ps2pdf and convert any files ending in .ps to a PDF
Lines 4 and 5 tells bash to call the rename command and change the converted PDF filename from 01-blahblah.html.pdf to 01-blahblah.pdf (this step is aesthetic, and won't affect how the PDF actually works.

I wrote this script because I think the resulting PDF is much more professional in appearance (no "page numbers" or "file:///blah/blah/blah.html" appearing mysteriously).

[1] If you want images in your PDF, they'll need to be linked properly. That is a howto for another day.
[2] I'm not sure where the home page is, but you can also download the source from Debian
[3] If your original HTML document is not within specifications, either html2ps or ps2pdf can take a dump on you. Please validate your html for best results.

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

Convert jpg images to a PDF document

Sun, 5 Jun 2011 03:59:29 GMT

Today we'll be going over how to convert a directory full of jpg images to a PDF document.
This exercise requires ImageMagick¹ and PDFTK. Windows users will also need CYGWIN for the bash shell and Perl if they want the "rename" command to work.
Imagemagick is pretty standard in linux, and is available for OS X and Windows. PDFTK will need to be installed via your linux package manager, and binaries can be downloaded for OS X and Windows.

The most common response when asking Google "convert jpgs to pdf" is:

convert *.jpg output-name.pdf

and this is okay if you only have a few jpegs, and they're not very big.
The reason for this is that when doing this operation, the system has to cache each and every JPG in memory AND also it has to cache a temporary PDF while it converts and adds each JPG. If you've got 100 JPGs or a couple dozen huge JPGs, you can crash your system doing it this way.

I found part of this script on one of the helpful linux forums and it's much easier on the system, as it converts each JPG individually to a PDF and then concatenates all the PDFs into one big one at the end of the operaton.

To get the ball rolling, you'll need to get all your JPGs in one directory.
You'll then need to make sure they're named with number prefixes. If you have fewer than 99 JPGs, you can name them 01-blahblah.jpg through 99-blahblah-jpg. If you have several hundred, use 001-blahblah.jpg through 999-blahblah.jpg. These numbers are the order in which your JPGs will be made into pages. It's very important to have a leading zero for single-digit numbers, as in linux and OS X, "10" comes before "1", but not before "01".

Now here's the script that does it:

#!/bin/bash
for i in *.jpg ;
do convert $i $i.pdf ;
rename -v 's/\.jpg\.pdf/\.pdf/' *.pdf;
done
pdftk *.pdf cat output book.pdf

You'll need to tell the system (linux and OS X) that the script is executable. To do so run

chmod +x scriptname

Line 1 tells the system it's a bash shell script
Line 2 tells bash to look for all files ending in "jpg"
Line 3 tells bash to call the ImageMagick 'convert' command and convert each JPG to a PDF
Line 4 tells bash to call the rename command and change the converted PDF filename from 01-blahblah.jpg.pdf to 01-blahblah.pdf (this step is aesthetic², and isn't necessary for the production of the final ebook - I'm just finicky about file names)
Line 5 tells bash "You're done! Miller time!"
Line 6 tells bash to call pdftk and concatenate all the pdfs it finds in the directory to one file named 'book.pdf' (you can change this after the script is done)

So there ya go, a method to make PDFs out of a bunch of JPGs without stressing your system.

[1] This script can be modified so that it works on any image type that ImageMagick recognizes (which is a bunch).
[2] If you don't want the rename part, just put a # in the front of that line (like line 1) before you run the script.

Want to discuss this? Have a comment for the author? Mosey on over to the Novarata Forums and let us know what you think.

GNOME3 Hybrid DVD

Tue, 24 May 2011 03:56:58 GMT

GNOME is a desktop environment / graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software and was created by two Mexican programmers, Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena. It is an international project that includes creating software development frameworks, selecting application software for the desktop, and working on the programs that manage application launching, file handling, and window and task management.

GNOME is part of the GNU Project and can be used with various Unix-like operating systems, most notably Linux and as part of the Java Desktop System in Solaris.

This is a live demonstrator of GNOME 3, and contains some freely licensed demo files, some of which are:

Movies: Sintel, Big Buck Bunny and the GNOME 3 videos from www.gnome3.org.
Music: Out of it (by Brad Sucks), Breadcrumbs (by Josh Woodward), Orphan Songs (by Orphan Songs) and Accords et Âmes (by ZAM'S)
Book: Producing Open Source Software.
Pictures: several pictures from Flickr.

I couldn't find a torrent for this, so I made one: GNOME_3-Hybrid-DVD.iso.torrent

More info

Spread the love, y'all.

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