I wrote a blog entry a few days ago (see the blog entry just before this one) talking about how easy it is to make a big mistake in programming, and how one little character can screw everything up. I was talking about Microsoft’s latest patch to Internet Explorer because, as it turned out, they had added a single extra ‘&’ symbol on one line of code, and it ended up being a security vulnerability. Well, guess what happened to me today? I deal with some of the programming aspects of a search engine at work. There exists a search box, attached to a piece of code that generates a URL and sends data to the user. We noticed that when a person searched from one area of the program it worked fine, but from another, the results were empty. This was a bit of a WTF moment. Looking at the URL’s just a little while ago, I discovered the problem. I wanted to scream. Here are the URL’s, I’ve shortened them down from their insanely long length, down to these short lines below, just so you can see the insanity I’m dealing with. The Non-working URL: &site=PROD_oregon_IMT|PROD_TRG_IMT&output=xml_no_dtd The working

Continue readingIf I had a dollar each time you walked away from me, I’d be the richest man in the world

For the most part, my job is one of programmer and general systems tinkerer and repairer. I ran across an interesting write up of the latest Internet Explorer fix issued by Microsoft and, I have to say, it’s pretty much the archetype of what programmers like myself deal with every day. Okay, so if you haven’t heard, Microsoft released a patch for Internet Explorer 8 to resolve an exploit. What was the problem with the code? What huge mistake did some unnamed and faceless programmer make in the process of creating the code for Internet Explorer? He added an extra ampersand. One. A single ‘&’ symbol, and all their code came crashing down. I’ll explain but it’s going to get pretty geeky here in a second. Here’s the code in question: hr = pStream->Read((void*)&pbArray, (ULONG)cbSize, NULL); And here is the resulting code after the fix: hr = pStream->Read((void*)pbArray, (ULONG)cbSize, NULL); The extra ‘&’ character– which I’ve highlighted in the first line of vulnerable code– causes the code to write data, of size cbSize, to the address of the pointer to the array, pbArray, rather than write the data into the array itself. And that pointer is on the stack. Big problem. This

Continue readingIf you have to leave, I’m begging you please, go all the way to Mexico

You can be angry all you want, and that’s the problem; when you really consider life and the things around you, it seems inevitable that anger follows. Today I’m left bereft of hope and solace, and I have no idea why. It seems the world is full of nothing but broken promises and broken truths that fail to measure up. Why is it that nobody can ever seem to say what they mean, do what they say, and just leave it at that? Why is it filled with half truths, and “things I probably won’t do”, and “things I have no intention of doing”. What the fuck does intention have to do with anything? I have no intention of dying, does that mean I’m going to magically live forever? Why can’t it be, “I will not.” or “I will.” or “Yes” or “No”? Why does everything in between have to be so fucking complicated, and why does everyone feel the need to tread within the gray area to their hearts content? I was thinking about something I wrote, and it fits my day and my mood today. I’m posting it here because, well, I’ve got nothing left to write that

Continue readingCures you whisper make no sense, drift gently into mental illness

Today marks the 40 year anniversary of Apollo 11’s famous launch. 40 years ago, three men embarked on what would be an accomplishment unsurpassed in terms of technology and sheer intellectual prowess. There are times when I honestly wish I had been alive to see the first steps on the moon, to hear those first words spoken on the surface, and to see those two men (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) hopping along like oversized rabbits thousands of miles away. There’s a website being run by the Kennedy Library, and on it, they’re providing a simulation of the moon landing in real time. What that means is, they’re reliving the entire launch, trip, broadcast, landing, and return, all via a webcast/website. I encourage you all to check it out. Not only is it neat, but it’s about as close to actually reliving the experience as most of us younger generation will ever get. Here’s the website: http://wechoosethemoon.org/

The following is something that a friend of mine wrote about his latest experience with home ownership and, more importantly, about his dad:  I’m upstairs. Two floors upstairs. I hear absolute unequivocal hysteria. Hysterical screaming. The female unit is flipping out. I run downstairs, leaping stairs, expecting to find a gang of Albanians ‘taken’ her away. Turns out the basement is flooding. I’m dismayed. No Albanians. Instead a silent laminating seepage of water is slowly making its way through the basement. The sump pump has stopped working. Still there is screaming. Cool as a cucumber I walk over to the valve – the back-up sump valve – and twist. The water retreats, barely a perceptible dampness left on a tiny stretch of basement. I look at the female unit, wondering what god has wrought on us men. The main sump pump is dead. Kicked it. Restarted it. Unplugged it. Threw the breaker. Plugged it. Kicked it more. Dead. I prepare for financial grab-ankle: time to call the plumber. Cancel the vacation. I’ll be buried as a pauper in a pine kitty litter box. Dad calls. “Hi Son!” He happened to be near our neighborhood. “Hi dad. Sump broke dad.” 5

Continue readingKill for fun, it’s fuckin’ funny don’t you think? One day you’ll decompose and those birds are singing…

Hemingway once said that it was difficult, if not impossible, to say or write one true thing. With the varying degrees of perception, belief, reality, and falsehood; it’s no surprise that he would feel that way. And to expand upon that problem a little further, we get in just as much trouble in the ways that we speak. Language as much a barrier to our understanding as our preconceived notions of the world. We all have our blinders and our bias. We have our perceptions and beliefs, and then, somewhere in the middle lies reality. How does a person honestly, truthfully, and without bias, state the truth? It is said that the one true and “pure” langauge that exists is math, but how does that help your average person on the street who is trying to communicate their needs? I was asked, yesterday, what my hitchhiking accomplished for me. There was no short and honest answer. In the end, sometimes we just do things because we feel that we must. It doesn’t have to make sense, and a lot of times, it never ever makes sense. Am I better person for having undertaken that journey? Absolutely. Can I articulate all

Continue readingAnd because of the things that I have done, I will never know what it’s like to kiss you in the pouring rain