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Saturday, May 10th, 2008
"A consonant please Carol, and another, and another, and another, and another." — actually, this post is not about Carol Vorderman or Countdown, it is about some interesting[?] script output I came across when attempting to write a new spam filter. I will explain…
Just lately my website has been receiving some rather odd junk comments. The comments make no sense and they have quite obviously been sent by some automated junk flinging robot. The reason the comments make no sense is because they seem to be constructed from random characters. Apart from making no sense, these comments were also becoming a nuisance as they were easily slipping past my existing keyword filters.
So, the other night I decided to sit down and write a new filter to try and catch these random character junk comments. I started by analysing some previously submitted comments to try and find any common patterns. One such pattern I found was multiple strings containing 5 or more consecutive consonants. Thinking this to be unusual, I ran some tests against a flat file containing 21110 common English words. I thought the results were interesting. Here is what I found:
- 85 unique strings containing 5 or more consecutive consonants.
- 113 words containing 5 or more consecutive consonants.
- 9 words containing 5 or more consecutive consonants and no vowels: crypt, lymph, lynch, myrrh, nymph, pygmy, rhythm, sylph, tryst
- 10 words containing 6 or more consecutive consonants: latchstring, metempsychosis, polysyllabic, polysyllable, porphyry, rhythm, skyscraper, strychnine, synchronize, synchronous
- 1 word containing 6 consecutive consonants and no vowels: rhythm
- 1 word containing 7 consecutive consonants: strychnine
I should state that the above results are in no way definitive. I know this because I also ran the same test against another file containing 311141 words found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Still, by using the results of the initial test I was able to construct a list of safe words to use with my new spam filter.
Finally, yes, I did consider not writing this post; however, I am sure my publishing of these results will not change anything. Besides, Arthur, my 80 year old neighbour, is the biggest Countdown fan on the planet, he is also quite Internet savvy and definitely thinks Carol Vorderman is hot — he may find these results quite useful in increasing his daily Countdown score!
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
Looking at my project page for Whird, I can see I have somewhat neglected the project recently. Actually, this is not entirely true, I have been testing Whird extensively for about 7 months. As things stand at the moment, Whird could be considered as either, a working prototype, or, classic vaporware. I prefer to think of it as a working prototype; however, I am not one of the many people who, over the last few months, have contacted me, asking questions about the project.
Why the neglect?
There are several reasons for my recent lack of commitment to Whird:
I have spent a large amount of time [probably too much] working on other projects; since the beginning of the year, CrunchBang Linux has consumed most of my free time.
Now that I have a working copy of Whird, I seem to have become far too comfortable simply using it, instead of developing it. Since starting this blog, in September last year, I have written 165 posts [not including this one.] Maybe I should have spent more time developing, instead of writing?! Hang on a minute, I am doing it again now. Doh!
Related to the last point; now that I have test driven Whird, I pretty much know what is wrong, what needs fixing and what works. Knowing this, I would ideally like to perform a complete rewrite. A daunting thought!
I have no self-imposed deadlines. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing, because it means any work I put into Whird remains a fun activity, something I can perform at my leisure. It is a curse, because I may not actually touch the project for months on end.
Will Whird ever be released?
Answer; maybe, probably, I hope so. Having said that, I would not hold your breath. It has occurred to me that Whird is in danger of becoming [if it hasn't done so already] "that" project, the project that provides endless hours of fun, without actually resulting in anything tangible.
Anyhow, that pretty much sums up the current status of Whird. Time to crack on and have a bit more fun :) In the meantime, if you are reading this and you are looking to start a new blog, why not try Steve Kemp's Chronicle. I have not actually tried it myself, but from what I have read, it looks like an interesting piece of software, something I could see myself using.
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
This is the third release of CrunchBang Linux. This release is based on the current development version of Ubuntu, "Hardy Heron". As with the previous releases, I have developed CrunchBang Linux for personal use; however, I have released it as a download on the off chance that others may find it useful.
I have been running this release on my own systems for a number of weeks and it seems to be quite stable. Having said that, this release is based on a "development" release of Ubuntu and therefore is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage.
What's new?
I am really quite happy with how CrunchBang Linux is developing. This release sees numerous improvements and when installed makes for a really usable, fast and attractive system. I would really like to thank the users on the forums for all their suggestions and feedback; I have implemented many improvements based solely on their input. See below for a list of changes.
Major updates:
- CrunchBang Linux is now based on Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron". This brings many new improvements and package updates; most notably an updated 2.6.24.15 Linux Kernel, and Xorg 7.3.
- Openbox 3.4.7-pre2, this release includes many improvements including the GDM control mentioned here.
- CrunchBang Linux repositories are now enabled by default. The repositories include CrunchBang Linux specific packages and fixes, plus Openbox related updates etc.
- A new default theme based on Clearlooks, "Darkness Returns". See the screenshots.
Other changes:
Download
The CrunchBang Linux ISO image is approximately 614MB. It can be downloaded from the following locations:
MD5: 90c83bac8ec4411fea422b439bfbcc65
Screenshots
Disclaimer
CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Saturday, March 8th, 2008
I've set-up an APT repository for CrunchBang Linux. This is something I've been meaning to do for sometime and I'm pleased that I've finally created it; being able to offer new packages and update existing ones should make life a bit easier, not to mention more fun.
I'm planning of using the new repository to issue updates for CrunchBang Linux, as well offering packages that are not available in the Ubuntu repositories. A couple of package updates which I've already uploaded include, Openbox 3.4.7-pre2 and obconf 2.0.3-0.
I've also uploaded a few other packages which I'm planning on using in the next release, see the wiki page for a list of available packages. All of the packages in the repository should be compatible with Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", so if you're running with the Gibbon you're more than welcome to use it/browse the packages.
Adding the repository
Below are the instructions to add the CrunchBang Linux repository to your system's list of APT repositories. A shorter version of these instructions is available on the wiki, see: http://www.crunchbang.org/wiki/CrunchBangLinuxRepository
1. Open a terminal and enter the following to edit your APT sources:
gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
2. Add the following line to the end of the file, save and exit:
deb http://crunchbang.net/packages-7.10.xx 7.10.xx main
3. Back in the terminal, add the GPG Key with the following command:
wget -q http://crunchbang.net/crunchbang.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -
4. Update APT:
sudo apt-get update
Enjoy :)
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Update: CrunchBang Linux 8.04.01 is out now!
See: http://crunchbang.org/archives/2008/04/08/crunchbang-linux-8-dot-04-dot-01-release-notes/
I've released another version of CrunchBang Linux, my remastered version of Ubuntu featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager. Version 7.10.02 is the version that was never meant to be; however, as soon as people started downloading and using the original [I'm still finding it hard to believe that anyone would actually do that] I realised I'd better try to clean up the distribution and start to attempt to fix any issues/problems.
One of the biggest issues with the original release was the dark GTK theme. While the dark theme worked well with all the default applications, it would render some other applications, installed via the repositories, next to useless. Therefore, the dark theme has been replaced by a new more usable/reliable light theme. I know some users [including myself] are quite fond of the dark theme, don't worry, it's still available and I'll post information on the forums and wiki about how to get it back.
Also, before I get on to the list of changes, I'd like to thank all the brave pioneers who downloaded and tried CrunchBang Linux 7.10.01. I've been overwhelmed by all the support and positive feedback on the distro, you guys rock!
Changes to 7.10.02
Below is a list of changes I've made for the new version. I've compiled the list from my TODO file and so it's fairly complete, though I did make some adjustments on-the-fly and I'm sure to have missed out some stuff.
I've compiled a list of installed applications, it can be found on the wiki. See: CrunchBang Linux 7.10.02 Applications List
Download
The CrunchBang Linux ISO image is approximately 580MB. It can be downloaded from the following locations:
MD5: f59aa9ba1cca475762e115ffc95a8f8e
User forums
Don't forget to visit the forums, register and join in with discussions and feedback regarding CrunchBang Linux. All feedback is really appreciated and helps to improve CrunchBang Linux. Forums are located at: http//crunchbang.org/forums/
Screenshots
Some screenshots of CrunchBang Linux 7.10.02 in action, more screenshots are available on the wiki.
Disclaimer
CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
It's a rather silly name, I know; however, TwitterZoid is the chosen name of my PHP script for parsing Twitter RSS feeds. I've been using Twitter quite steadily for a couple of weeks now and I thought it might be nice to include my latest tweets on my blog, so I wrote TwitterZoid to do just that.
TwitterZoid differs to other PHP based Twitter RSS parsers, at least the ones I tried before I wrote it, in that it will automatically link both lexicons and URLs found within individual tweets. It also tries to mimic Twitter's timestamping, although this could be improved.
TwitterZoid usage
I wanted to make TwitterZoid as simple to use as possible. Therefore I decided to write the script to be used as a simple include file which can be used on any PHP page. Basically, to use TwitterZoid all you need to do is set a couple of variables, include twitterzoid.php and then echo the main $TwitterZoid variable where you would like your list of tweets to appear.
Example set-up:
$twitter_username = "corenominal";
$twitter_feed = "http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/99713.rss";
require_once('twitterzoid.php');
Call on the main TwitterZoid variable to produce the list of tweets:
echo $TwitterZoid;
Don't worry if this reads like gibberish, I've included an example page within the download.
TwitterZoid examples
There are currently two demonstrations of TwitterZoid in action, see:
My official "What am I doing?" Twitter page:
http://crunchbang.org/what-am-i-doing/
A more stylised version of "What am I doing?", included within the download:
http://crunchbang.org/projects/twitterzoid/demo/
Download TwitterZoid
Location: http://crunchbang.org/projects/twitterzoid/twitterzoid-0.1.tar.gz
MD5: 99dace9f9872cf1ebf93588bb2d36458
TwitterZoid license
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
A Serbian translation of the random Ubuntu advocacy images is now available. The translation comes courtesy of Milos Jakovljevic and the Serbian Ubuntu LoCo team. Thank you Milos.
The complete Serbian set can be viewed on this demo page. The code to display the images is below, simply copy & paste into your HTML/blog template where you would like the random image placement to occur:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/rs/ubuntu_199_164.js">
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="http://ubuntu.com/getubuntu" title="Get Ubuntu!">
<img src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/rs/199_164_ubuntu.png" alt="Get Ubuntu."></a>
</noscript>
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
CrunchBang Linux now has its own IRC channel on freenode. Thanks to Space Aviator for setting this up and mailing me with the details. You can connect to the CrunchBang IRC channel using an IRC client such as XChat, point your client to the freenode network (irc.freenode.net:6667) and join the #crunchbang channel.
I use IRC most evenings and I'll add #crunchbang to my channel list. I'll try to log in whenever I can. Please say "hi" if you see me about, I'm always up for a chat with fellow Linux users. My nick is corenominal.
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
The Ubuntu advocacy images are now available in 12 different languages. Alexander Telenga has done a fantastic job converting the images into Russian. These new Russian images are some of my favourites to date, I love the Russian character set. Thank you Alexander :)
The complete Russian set can be viewed on this demo page. The code to display the images is below, simply copy & paste into your HTML/blog template where you would like the random image placement to occur:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/ru/ubuntu_199_164.js">
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="http://ubuntu.ru/get" title="Get Ubuntu!">
<img src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/ru/199_164_ubuntu.png" alt="Get Ubuntu."></a>
</noscript>
Friday, February 1st, 2008
So, Andy Loughran, AKA Eärendur of Dorthonion, has been busy translating these images into Elvish. Not wanting to upset our pointy eared friends, or the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship [I hear the E.L.F are BIG on Ubuntu!], I've uploaded Andy's translations and made them available from my file server. Thank you Andy, I think!?
The complete Elvish set can be viewed on this demo page. You can help spread the word of Ubuntu to the oldest of all common races by copying and pasting the code below into your HTML/blog template:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/ev/ubuntu_199_164.js">
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="http://ubuntu.com/getubuntu" title="Kaer Ubuntu!">
<img src="http://crunchbang.net/advocacy/ev/199_164_ubuntu.png" alt="Kaer Ubuntu."></a>
</noscript>
Can of worms anyone?
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