Space.com Blocked: Disappointing, but Not Unexpected

The Lemming would be writing a micro-review about a Space.com article now. It has to do with a moon of Saturn.

That micro-review won't get written. Not soon, anyway.

A few minutes ago, when I followed a link on one of my 'iGoogle' pages, I got a message titled "Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for space.com/scienceastronomy." It gives a few details on what why Space.com/scienceastronomy got flagged.

I'll be back, with a reason I'm not surprised at this situation, after that "Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page" text:

"Safe Browsing

"Diagnostic page for space.com/scienceastronomy

"What is the current listing status for space.com/scienceastronomy?

"Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

"Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

"What happened when Google visited this site?

"Of the 81 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 10 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-12-24, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-12-24.

"Malicious software includes 12 scripting exploit(s), 10 trojan(s), 8 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 3 new process(es) on the target machine.

"Malicious software is hosted on 2 domain(s), including oooabterast0.co.cc/, wet2.cz.cc/.

"This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS6315 (XMISSION).

"Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

"Over the past 90 days, space.com/scienceastronomy did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

"Has this site hosted malware?

"No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

"How did this happen?

"In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

"Next steps:...."
("Advisory provided by Google," Google (safebrowsing.clients.google.com) (December 24, 2010)

The "Next steps" would be relevant, if you were on the original page, or the site owner.

The Lemming hopes that the owners of Space.com take note of what's been happening, and change their policies. That leads me into why I wasn't surprised to read that Google diagnostics message.

Space.com Using Malicious Software? Disappointed, but Not Surprised

For some time now, Space.com has been using -- or allowing their advertisers to use -- increasingly aggressive software.

Advertising's Okay

The Lemming doesn't mind advertising: the working relationship between bloggers like me and companies with products and services to sell is one reason why blogging - and online publishing in general - isn't limited to independently wealthy folks.

Self-Destructive Stupidity is Not Okay

The Lemming does, however, mind advertising that blocks a reader's view of the page, takes up screen space toward the bottom of the display, and otherwise interferes with reading the page.

Advertising like that is, in the Lemming's opinion, as stupid-clever as the old trick of disabling the browser's "back" button. I've discussed disabling back buttons before. (December 6, 2010, May 1, 2008)

Back to Space.com, aggressive software, and that blocking message.

Space.com: Second Strike

The Lemming won't be going back to Space.com again today. Or, most likely, until after New Year's.

That's not an arbitrary date, by the way. Syntax and content in Space.com strongly suggests that their writers and editors, at least, are in the United States. That, in turn, suggests that the folks who make executive decisions are in this country, too.

Holiday Break SNAFU?

If Space.com's executives are in the United States, the odds are pretty good that they won't be back from their Christmas-New Year's vacation until early January, 2011. The same goes for most of the senior staff.

Including the folks who are savvy enough to know that it's not a good idea to sell advertising space to someone who started the conversation by telling you that he was the president of Booga-Booga and needed your help to get ten billion dollars out of his country. Which is another topic.

Beware Clueless Executives

Almost. I briefly discussed clueless executives and managers, illustrated with a Dilbert strip, yesterday. (December 23, 2010)

Second Strike

The Lemming wouldn't be quite so annoyed, if this was the first time Space.com had pulled something like this. This is the second time I've had issues with the website and naughty software - presumably put there by their advertisers.

The Lemming hopes that whoever is running Space.com decides to reconsider what seems to a piratical philosophy, where it comes to advertising. They may be making a few extra dollars this way, in the short run.

But as word gets around that they're putting malicious software on their visitors' computers: I don't think I'm the only one who's considering staying away from Space.com. Permanently.

Making a 'Super Password'

"How to create a 'super password'"
John D. Sutter, CNN (August 20, 2010)

"Say goodbye to those wimpy, eight-letter passwords.

"The 12-character era of online security is upon us, according to a report published this week by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"The researchers used clusters of graphics cards to crack eight-character passwords in less than two hours.

"But when the researchers applied that same processing power to 12-character passwords, they found it would take 17,134 years to make them snap.

" 'The length of your password in some cases can dictate the vulnerability,' said Joshua Davis, a research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

"It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but for now, 12-character passwords should be the standard, said Richard Boyd, a senior research scientist who also worked on the project...."

According to the CNN article, the researchers chose the number 12 for their recommended password length because they think it's a good balance between convenience and security.

Eventually, we may get really long passwords.

"...Here's one suggested password-sentence from Carnegie Mellon University:

" 'No, the capital of Wisconsin isn't Cheeseopolis!'..."

That'll have to wait until the security systems websites use will handle characters other than letters of the alphabet and numbers: like commas, apostrophes, and blank spaces.

The Lemming must be using some of the better-run websites: I was surprised to learn that a fair number of places online won't accommodate long passwords.

The Lemming Applauds Himself: But You Might Find It Useful

Me? I've been using 'long' passwords, a dozen or so characters long, for years. They're not all that hard to remember, since I use a pattern. I have three parts for each password. One's a word that isn't in most dictionaries, the other involves a number that's easy for me to remember, and the third is very mnemonic - generally having something to do with the website or service I'm logging into.

If all I relied on was the mnemonic part, I could be hacked fairly easily. All three together? I'm not sure how long it'd take for a program to run through enough combinations to 'guess' the right one. I'm not worried, though: the places I go generally limit the number of times I'm allowed to make a mistake before having to wait and visit the place later.

The CNN article does a pretty good job of discussing password security: including how to deal with the issue of remembering your passwords.

One of the solutions seems to be a disaster waiting to happen, as the author concedes:

"...A website called Password Safe will store a list of passwords for you, but Boyd and Davis said it may still be possible for a hacker to obtain that list...."

There are other solutions: including physical gadgets you can carry around with you.

The Lemming's opinion is that the best approach to password security is to work out a system that

• You can remember at 2:00 a.m.
• Produces
  • Different password for every site
  • Long passwords
  • Passwords with letters and numbers
• Doesn't involve your birthday, or other fact that others know about you
• Isn't on a sticky note stuck to your monitor

Related posts:

• "Twitter's Password Plight(s)"
  (June 26, 2010)
• ""iTunes account hacked" - Widespread and Under-Reported?"
  (April 29, 2010)
• "San Francisco Computer Hijacker Convicted"
  (April 28, 2010)
• "If Your Password is "Password1" - CHANGE IT"
  (November 24, 2009)
• "Passwords: Be Sure Yours Isn't on These Lists"
  (April 20, 2008)

Good Website Advice For Everybody, Actually

This article's written for small business owners, but I think anybody with a website could pick up something useful here:

"11 Reasons Customers Don't Trust Your Web Site"
Small Business Advice, Small Business Trends (July 6, 2010)

"While it may be hip to say otherwise, your small business needs a Web site. The same way you can't ignore your blog for social media, you can't ignore your site in lieu of a Twitter account. You may spend your afternoons engaging with people on social sites, however it's your site that users will turn to for trusted information about what you do, how you do it, and how they can get it. But before you go just throwing something together, remember they're looking for trusted information.

"The Web site you create can't help you if it doesn't appear trustworthy to users. And that means more than just creating a professional design (though that helps). It means taking time to lay the foundation from the very beginning.

"Here are 11 reasons customers won't trust your Web site. It's the what NOT to do...."

The article lists the reasons in bold, with a paragraph explaining why your website shouldn't be like this:

• It's written like a brochure.
• It's littered with typos.
• You don't say why you're different.
• You say 'we' too much.
• It hasn’t been updated in five years.
• It's hard to navigate.
• It's buzzword city.
• It looks like a template.
• There's no About page.
• You don't provide a real address.
• No third-party endorsements.

Some of the points, like "third-party endorsements," aren't so important for a non-business website - or blog. On the other hand, and endorsement could make your website stand out.

Bottom line? If you've got a website, reading that article probably wouldn't be a complete waste of time.

---

A tip of the hat to copyblogger, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

SEO Optimization: What Not to Do

"10 easy ways to kill your website"
Kneoteric eSolutions (undated)

"If you own a website, you probably know that search engine optimization is an inherent part of design and development process. It would not be an overstatement if we said that the website design and development process is critical and a determinant of your position on search engines. It can make or break your success online...."

I'm not an "SEO expert," but I've studied - and used - Search Engine Optimization techniques for years. This list of ten points is a pretty good summary of advice that's out there - and makes sense: from "Optimize as an afterthought" (don't) to " 'Click Here' as anchor text" (okay: but think about it).

One thing I appreciated about the article was the calm, common-sense approach. Like whether or not to use Flash. There wasn't the gushing hype I heard a few years back - and there wasn't a strident assertion that Flash should never be used.

A few things are pretty close to 'absolute' no-nos for people who want search engines to find their websites: like splash screens. Sure, they look pretty, and your manager may just love the things. But search engine robots can't see, not the way we do: all they'll notice about a splash screen is that it isn't text - and odds are, they'll move on.

On the other hand, what isn't mentioned at all, as far as I could see, was how to write for SEO optimization. (Basically: don't ramble; and tell the reader what you're writing about in the first paragraph or so. Bots, like readers, are (supposedly) apt to assume that what's toward the top of the page is what's most important.)

I'm being a little nit-picking here, but I think the author missed the boat by focusing on Ajax. It's probably a hot item for dynamic content right now: but the problem isn't that software, as far as I've been able to discover. It's dynamic content. Again, those bots simply aren't human.

Bottom line? It's a pretty good refresher about (or introduction) to SEO optimization.

---

A tip of the hat to timethief, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

Piscatorial Pursuits - It's Not What You May Think

Piscatorial Pursuits

"Whether you're looking to book an Alaska salmon & halibut fishing package or a Washington fishing trip out of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula, helpful info on how to fish on your own, recipes, Kenai Peninsula tide tables for halibut fishing or clamming, or perhaps some of the most popular fishing bulletin boards / forums ... you've found the right place!

"Our site menu will load to the left. Just mouse-over the buttons for links to the information or fishing trip that you're looking for. If you have any difficulties viewing the menu, text links appear at the bottom of every page!..."

There's something fishy about this website.

Sorry: it had to be said.

Seriously? If you like fishing, you'll probably like this website. It may not be the 'ultimate' website for folks who fish, but it looks promising.

And, updated. The most recent 'Site News' update was January 29, 2010.

Enjoy.

Haiti Quake: International Red Cross Website Helps Haitians Find Loved Ones

www.icrc.org/familylinks
Family Links Website
International Committee of the Red Cross
(A server for the URL at the top of the Family Links Website home page, FamilyLinks.icrc.org, was not online at the time this post was written.)

"The aim of the International Committee of the Red Cross FamilyLinks website is to help those separated by conflict or disaster to find information about their loved ones in order to restore contact...."

It's not Just Haiti. The top links on the Family Links Website home page were:

• Haiti earthquake 2010
  For people seeking to restore contact with family members after earthquake in Haiti
  Français
• 15-2-2007 Nepal
  List of missing persons in Nepal in relation to the conflict
• 25-7-2005 Bosnia and Herzegovina
  For persons unaccounted for in connection with the conflict on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Bosniac
• 25-7-2005 Gulf 2003
  For persons affected by the conflict in Iraq
  عربية
• 12-5-2005 Kosovo
  For persons unaccounted for in connection with the crisis in Kosovo /li>
• 25-7-2005 Somalia

The Red Cross website is for Haitians Trying to Find Their Relatives

There's a notice on the Family Links Website home page:

"The information available on the website may be listed in public places or broadcast on the radio to widen distribution to people without Internet access. All information on this website is provided by relatives of persons being sought or by those who register themselves.
"The ICRC cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the personal data"

In other words, it's okay to distribute information you find there.

Actually, it seems like a really good idea to me.

Where'd I find the Family Links Website?

"Red Cross website helps Haitians trace loved ones"
Reuters (January 14, 2010)

"Hundreds of Haitians at home and abroad are trying to get in touch with each other through a website set up after the devastating earthquake, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

"About 1,360 Haitians, mostly in the United States and Canada, registered on the site, www.icrc.org/familylinks, within hours of it going live, ICRC spokesman Marcal Izard said. Most appeared to be searching for relatives in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

" 'They include 148 Haitians in Haiti who registered, saying they were alive,' Izard told Reuters. 'Social media, including Facebook, have played a huge role by making links to our site.'..."

Shortly after I post this, I'll be putting the Family Links Website URL on Twitter. I'm quite sure others have done the same thing. But maybe someone will see mine, who hadn't seen the others yet.

Red Cross people on the ground in Haiti are taking tracing request from folks in Haiti who can't get on the Internet, according to the article.

The Lemming has another post lined up. It's about Twitter and Haiti. But stick around: it's not all Haiti all the time here. I'll try to get one more post out, after that one.

Photos of Chipmunks: Lots of Photos

Chipmunks!

"If there is a more entertaining animal than a chipmunk, I've never seen it!"

The site has photos of chipmunks. Dozens of photos of chipmunks. I can't remember seeing so many photos of chipmunks on one page.

The photos you see are thumbnails, linking back to the site's home page: click on the originals there, and you'll see a larger photo - each one I saw was a good bit of photography, as well as cute as a button.

The larger photos come with a title, caption, and - the ones I viewed - information about the camera and exposure.

Dozens of photos of appealing chipmunks: Enjoy.

Link List of Resources for Website Designers

"30 Free Online Tools to Test Your Website"

"Testing is one thing that you cannot afford to take lightly. The reason being simple, just like a minor negligence while constructing a building can cost life of millions of residents, the same way a small error left unnoticed can prove to be fatal for your website.

"Therefore, this implies that we must run our website through all necessary tests. This includes CSS Errors, HTML Errors, Crossbrowsing Errors, WAP Errors(if your site is WAP enabled) and various other tests...."

The first link is to a MarkUp Validator, which I tried out on my oldest website.

This free service was a huge improvement over the last 'markup checker' I tried - several years ago. This not only reported that there were problems - it reported what the problems were. Which, as I said, is a huge improvement. More than that: it gives the row and column in which the error occurs. The only down-side is that I'd have to do this test for each page. Which makes using the service rather labor-intensive. Still, it's free - and you can't beat that price.

Then there's the CSS Validator, Links Validator, all the way down to NetRenderer. ("An online tool to show you the appearance of your website on IE 6/7/5.5")

Bottom line? This is looks like a pretty good resource for someone who's designing a website.

---

A tip of the hat to timethief, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this resource.

All the Tea in China

"History of Tea"
United Kingdom Tea Council

"Tea is so much a part of everyday life in Britain that we might never stop to think about how a unique plant from faraway China became the nation´s favourite drink. But the history of tea is fascinating, and in this section we can follow its story from the earliest times in Imperial China right up to its present place at the heart of British life.

"Read about the exotic beginnings of tea.

"Discover how tea was brought to England by a seventeenth century queen, and how important the tea trade was to the British East India Company, one of the most powerful commercial organisations the world has ever seen.

"Learn how the phenomenal popularity of tea in the eighteenth century led to widespread smuggling and adulteration, and about the murderous lengths smugglers went to to protect their illegal trade...."

Smuggling? Murder? The British certainly have been serious about their tea!

There's a 'brief history of tea' - and a look at the Boston Tea Party - from a non-colonial point of view.

The United Kingdom Tea Council has a fine website - with a great deal more than cursory background on tea. However, they've changed the website's structure at least once since one of my sources posted links, so if this post's links lead you nowhere, and you still want your spot of tea - so to speak - here's where you (should) find their home page:

• United Kingdom Tea Council
  www.tea.co.uk

Rembrandt van Rijn: Take a Look, Buy a Book?

Rembrandt van Rijn
life, paintings, etchings, drawings & self portraits

Sure, the website's got an online Rembrandt bookshop, plus opportunities to buy hand-made Rembrandt copies, or prints & posters: but there's a pretty good selection of information about Rembrandt - and his house, and galleries of paintings, etchings, and drawings by the 17th century artist.

Sure: it's commercial. It's also a pretty good website for people wanting a look at Rembrandt and his work.

And Now, for Something Completely Different: Fabulous Photos of Foods, Fancy and Plain

TasteSpotting

"...Founded on the idea that we eat first with our eyes, TasteSpotting is our obsessive, compulsive collection of eye-catching images that link to something deliciously interesting on the other side. Think of TasteSpotting as a highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste...."

The front page of this website displays 48 photos of food - when I checked, it went from "Lemon lime sugar cookie pops, 50% whole wheat, 100% love. All proceeds go to Amnesty International for stopping 'Violence Against Women' " to "Strawberry and rhubarb crisp, with pumpkin seeds to make it even crispier" - in no particular order.

Actually, 47 of the photos are about food (including a stack of graham crackers). One showed a seashore. It links to a special feature. The other photos link to a writeup - with photos - of the food.

The Dinos are Coming! The Dinos are Coming!

"Walking With Dinosaurs LIVE! 2009"
The Creature Production Company

"After 65 million years they're back!

"After years of planning, the award-winning BBC TV series, Walking with Dinosaurs comes to life in a stunning theatrical event.

"Internationally renowned designers have worked with scientists to create 15 life-size dinosaurs, including the terror of the ancient terrain, Tyrannosaurus-rex! Be amazed and thrilled as the greatest creatures ever to walk the earth return before your eyes...."

The promotional website has an FAQ page, fact sheet page, a bit of how the show got started, how to buy tickets, and more of the usual: including a "Meet the Dinos page that isn't exactly usual.

You may have fun looking over the website: it's pretty good 'multi-media' stuff.

New York City World Trade Center Updates

Wonder how the New York City World Trade Center reconstruction project is going?

The "Project Updates" page of lowermanhattan.info has links that are supposed to tell you.

Looks like a good idea: they say the pages are updated when there's a significant change. They've got photos, and, for the Freedom Tower page, links to animated flybys.

From some angles, in the flybys, the Freedom Tower looks an awful lot like San Francisco's Trans America Pyramid.

An IMAO List of Top Interior Design Sites

"The 10 Best Interior Design Websites in
the Whole Wide World"
Design Training (undated)

"Like all ten best lists this one is purely 'IMAO' (In My Arrogant Opinion). These are sites that, for me, capture the moment, extract the best from the physical world of interior design, and convert it in inspiration...."

The list goes from "10. This Ain't No Disco (it's where we work)" to "1. Ikea Hacker."

Photos, a brief description, and a link go with each entry.

As the writer said, it's a matter of opinion - but this does look like a list of pretty good interior design sites.

New President, New White House Website: This One Has a Blog

"Change at the White House Web Site"
The Caucus blog / The New York Times (January 20, 2009)

"Change comes to the White House Web site

"President Obama had not yet taken the oath of office at 12:01 p.m. on Tuesday when the Obama administration took over the cyber-address of the presidency, WhiteHouse.gov, with a flourish. A minute past noon, the Bush administration’s familiar Web site, with eight years worth of archived press releases, speech transcripts, photographs, executive orders, and proclamations were swept away into the hands of the National Archives. The homepage instead featured a large portrait of Mr. Obama and the slogan, 'Change Has Come to America: The Inauguration of President Barack Obama.'..."

More posts about Barack Obama's inauguration day:

• "President Barack Obama: An American Made History Today"
  (January 20, 2009)

ASVAP and National Velociraptor Awareness Month

American Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention

"News
"September is National Velociraptor Awareness Month! The American Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention, along with the North American Velociraptor Defense Association and the United Velociraptor Widows Fund...."

"Velociraptor attack is the 3rd leading cause of death for men age 27-29. However, everyone must think about the implications of velociraptors: young and old, men, women and transgendered persons.

"The American Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention is a bi-partisan group of professionals, dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge concerning velociraptor attack prevention...."

I'm pretty sure that this is website is done for laughs. At least, I got a few good chuckles out of it.

Digital Art Galleries by Stardust Crossing

Stardust Crossing

"このサイトは、「Vue」、「Poser」などの3DCGソフトを使って私が制作した作品を展示するギャラリー中心のサイトである。
　サイト名「Stardust Crossing」は、「星屑十字路」の英訳であり、星屑が交差して集まる場所という意味である。この名称は、starを名乗るほどの実力もない我が身に似合っているのではないかと考えて付けたものである。

"　なお、当サイトはリンクフリーであり、リンクに当たって事前及び事後の連絡は不要です。バナーが必要な方は、下記のものを右クリックして「名前を付けて画像を保存」でお持ち帰りのうえ、ご使用頂ければ幸いです。"

If you can read that, you're doing better than me.

Happily, the artist who runs Stardust Crossing provides text in English as well as Japanese:

"I am Japanese and live in Tokyo.

My handle name is 'Stardust' or 'Stardust Crossing' ordinarily. I sometimes use 'Hoshikuzu Jujiro' as handle. It is a Japanese word which means 'Stardust Crossing'.

"I started 3D CG in May 2005. It is my hobby not job to create 3D CG. My real job has no relation with CG. So I enjoy a CG life at weekends. Vue 5 Esprit & Vue6 Infinite, Poser 5-7 and Shade 8.5 Basic are my main softwares."

I ran into this artist's work on an online community, Renderosity, which led me to this website (Thanks, "Stardust Crossing").

Stardust Crossing's galleries on Stardust Crossing go back a few years. I think you'll see some evolution in the work.

Internet to Become Television-Like Medium Without Small Websites?

"2012: The Year The Internet Ends"
IPower (June 1, 2008)

"Every significant Internet provider around the globe is currently in talks with access and content providers to transform the internet into a television-like medium: no more freedom, you pay for a small commercial package of sites you can visit and you'll have to pay for seperate subscriptions for every site that's not in the package.

"Almost all smaller websites/services will disappear over time and multinationals who are used to using big budgets to brute force their content into every media outlet will finally be able to approach the internet in the same way...."

I sincerely hope that these people are wrong. On the other hand, this doesn't have the feel of the run-of-the-mill crackpot conspiracy theory.

I'd really appreciate comments. Particularly informed comments.

Free Stats, Sort of: This Looks Interesting

"urlmetrix
"check of url popularity"

For Google, Alexa, Compete, Quantcast, Technorati. and others.

Looks like a pretty good one-stop check on a URLs rankings. The numbers I saw for mine were what I expected.

History of the Web: See Top Websites, the Way They Were

Internet Archive Wayback Machine

Featuring almost a dozen old sites, from Yahoo! to The Well.

A good snapshot of early days on the Web.