Time For Some Techy-Speak

We're back in business!

That feels like a lot longer than it was.

"E.Maree On Writing" disappeared for a little while there in one very messy weekend. While struck down by some demon hybrid flu bug that turned my stomach into corrosive acid, I clicked onto Twitter (to tweet about how I was dying horribly, probably) and saw a trending (popular) topic about a security issue with WordPress.

I dash over to check my blog is on the newest version of WordPress (as it were, it was on 2.8.2 instead of 2.8.4, which isn't a huge difference) and get greeted with a lovely fatal error letting me know the blog was dead.

I stared stunned, quivering and whispering dramatically "I...I think my blog's been hacked" to anyone nearby. This was Dave, who was horrified at the loss of the swine flu pig image, and his little brother - who decided I had gained all my knowledge of FTP usage and website making in Computing class, and asked if I was having fun.

I'm gonna cut this short because what happened after was complicated - I realised my blog database was missing, was confused at to how hackers managed to do that, got an e-mail from my host saying 'Hi there! We moved your site!', sent off an e-mail to Support and got a lovely and prompt reply saying the server had been lost in the move and was now back where it belonged.

They also gave some advice to fix WordPress, which was still looking fishy - but after looking into it I think this is to due with new version changes, which has some oddly named directories - a 'pomo' directy looks mighty odd when there have been hackers loose.

Thanks also go to MyNairn's Brian Turner, who offered some help sorting the site out. I managed to get things back up with a little help from Google, but it was nice to have help offered (especially when no one else understood what my distraught ranting was about :P).

Oh, while all this was going on, Nairn also flooded:

Pic from A Gurn From Nairn - click for more!

...Lovely.

So in short: we're back, I learn far too much via Twitter, and Dreamhost support are lovely. <3

Just getting back into gear after all that chaos - I haven't done any proper writing in long enough for it to bother me, and I've still got plenty of freelance website work to keep me busy. =)

Until then,

E.Maree
xoxo

Heaven is a Top Ten Rock Song

In my day-to-day browsing of the news, I chance across interesting articles once a while.
Today, I found a good article about how book covers can be misleading or inaccurate.
A great article, though it did have the hilarious lines:

"I still remember the shock I got at the age of seven, when my largely second-hand book collection gained a new copy of one of Enid Blyton’s much-loved Famous Five series. Dick, incredibly, seemed to be sporting an earring, and tomboy George was wearing copious amounts of hair gel. Even Timmy the dog looked faintly
disreputable.

"The design was presumably attempting to appeal to a more modern audience, but children aren’t stupid, and I could never quite trust the Five again after that. They looked more likely to mug me than invite me to share their ginger beer."

I also found a not-so-good article on how emo kids believe they will go to the Black Parade when they die. Pushing aside the cult thing and hilarious phrasing (sweatbands are called 'emo bracelets'), it turns the overplayed My Chemical Romance single "Welcome to the Black Parade" into a religion.

"She had secretly chatted to “emo” followers online all over the world, talking about death and the glamorisation of hanging and speaking about “the black parade” - a place where “emos” believe they go after they die. "
"In a tribute book dedicated to Hannah at her school, one of her friends wrote, “I hope you enjoy the black parade”"

I dunno about you guys, but if I was choosing any song for my religious aftermath, I'd go for OPM's 'Heaven is a Halfpipe'. 'Cos they got no gates at all, yo.

This mish-mash conversation ensued:

MacArthur, David [12:06]:
I'LL NEVER TRUST THE FAMOUS FIVE AGAIN!!!!
Urquhart, Emma [12:06]:
THEY CHANGED
Urquhart, Emma [12:06]:
GOT A FRIGGIN EARRING
Urquhart, Emma [12:06]:
GONNA MUG ME
MacArthur, David [12:07]:
THERE GOING TO JOIN THE BLACK PARADE
Urquhart, Emma [12:07]:
WHEN I WAS
Urquhart, Emma [12:07]:
A YOUNG BOY
Urquhart, Emma [12:07]:
MY FATHER
MacArthur, David [12:07]:
I WAS IN THE FAMOUS FIVE
Urquhart, Emma [12:07]:
FAIL AT SPEED
MacArthur, David [12:07]:
FAIL AT WINNING
Urquhart, Emma [12:07]:
YOU CAN'T 4CHAN IF YOU'RE SLOCHAN