Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Dear Web Development Community

Dear Web Development Community,

I’ve been running a web site of my own since 1995. I have used shared servers, dedicated servers, virtual private servers, and all sorts of operating systems with various hosting companies. I even host some services out of my home office.

What is all this Nonce-sense?

You might have noticed that the service release of WordPress 2.0.3 is now available for download. I do recommend to users that they perform this upgrade if they are using the 2.0 branch, because it addresses at least one security issue.

One security-related issue that you might be interested in is the new nonce system. It started with this thread on the WordPress hackers mailing list and became one of the most involved and complex discussions we’ve ever had. I personally had all too much to say about it. So what is a nonce and how does it affect you?

First off, “nonce” is pronounced like the prefix “non”, but with an “s” sound at the end. It is not “noun” with an “s” sound. The term “nonce” is used in a variety of ways, but for our purposes it is a unique code that is only used (more or less) once to identify a particular transaction. How is this useful?

Sick of Myself

In 1997 a bunch of us went out ot he Y-100 FEZtival, the yearly summer modern rock mega-concert.

The concert was held at the E-Center, The Sony/Blockbuster Entertainment Center, which has since become the Tweeter Center. The E-Center is one of the worst large entertainment venues in Philly (technically in Camden, NJ), especially if you’ve paid a premium price to sit inside the echo chamber attached to the stage.

The stage itself and the seats directly in front are covered, and the entire building is shaped like a bullhorn with its wide mouth pointing out toward an expanse of grass — the lawn. We knew better to sit near the stage, and so we have all bought the cheaper lawn tickets and were seated outside.

We had hoped for a sunny day to see the concert, and we got one. It was gorgeous. We arrived early enough to each get a gimmick red felt fez with a gold tassle. Yes, they were preventing people from bringing blankets into the venue even back then.

Amateur House Hunter

On Saturday morning we took a drive around the county scouting out a few of the places that we would visit on Sunday with our scheduled realtor appointment. We got out well beyond Marsh Creek, crossing 401 on 113 to see one particular house that was far too crowded with trees for our tastes.

Judy from Keller Williams took us out on Sunday to look through five houses that we had pre-arranged from a list they had provided last week. Of those houses, one was in Uwchlan township, two were in Exton, and two were in West Bradford. The houses ranged in price from $330k to $495k.

The first house on Peck road in Uwchlan township was very nice. It felt very open inside and had a lot of yard compared to any of the other houses we saw. It had all of the rooms we needed, although the basement was unfinished (but with tons of potential in the glass doors that are open to the back yard.) The master bedroom was painted pink (attractive, but would need to change) and had an adjoining office. The room with the washer and dryer on the first floor led through to the garage. And the price was the most attractive in the $400k+ range.

In my opinion, this house is as close to perfect as we can get. Berta’s concern is that the neighbors (two of whom were apparently blobbing around topless on their back porch during the showing, scratching their hairy selves) aren’t close enough to offer playmates for the kids, and that walking on Peck road, with its high traffic, is not advisable for the kids.