ellenmillion

Business as Usual

The next EMG-Zine theme we're collecting for is 'familiars.' Submit artwork here: http://emg-zine.com/submitart.php or see the guidelines for writing: http://emg-zine.com/guidelines.php

I've also posted themes through the end of 2011, if you want to work ahead! Upcoming topics include:

2010:

July - Familiars
August - Roses
September - Ravens
October - Bards
November - Storms
December - African mythology

2011:

January - Creation
February - Rabbit
March - Gryphons
April - Wind
May - Dryads
June - Jewels
July - Butterflies
August - Owls
September - Mushrooms
October - Scandinavian Mythology
November - Frogs
December - Ships

So, yesterday's Torn World links issue? Was not a livejournal issue, though it was similar in execution to their affiliate link re-writing fiasco. They have completely disabled that. What happened was that Torn World itself got hacked and the .htaccess file was re-written. All incoming links from sites that included the words google, msn, live, altavista, ask, yahoo, aol or bing were being redirected to that search pages crap. Very, VERY sneaky hacking, as I would never have even noticed the problem if I had not checked the link from livejournal. Lesson? Keep an eye on your .htaccess file. Check the status of your links from search engines. And if you spot this behavior with some other site, let the webmaster know so they can fix it and change their passwords.

Livejournal and Dreamhost support were quite swift and accurate in their help in pinpointing the problem.

And naturally I have changed the password, not just here, but at several of my other sites. Of course, I can never do things the EASY way, so I figured 'oh, I'll consolidate my user accounts at the same time and just switch Torn World over to the account I use for project A.' HAH. There were linked included files in the main user root that had updated functions, which promptly broke most of the site... it's all fixed now, but it was a major headache to figure everything out, and I ended up crawling for help to php guru Ron, who managed to track down a problem I never would have spotted. It's a good change, in general - those included functions had been updated for good reason and the whole system is more secure now, but it was not at all on the timeline I was planning to make the upgrade.

And speaking of Torn World, I have a new story up, the sequel to Cure or Cause?, Cause and Defect. If that link doesn't work correctly, I will kick and scream and maybe cry a little.

ETA: OH, beautiful. THAT user got hacked too. I changed the password when I got up this morning, just in case, but didn't actually check to see if it had already been hacked, and why yes, it had. Happened overnight. FRY IN HELL, YOU SPAMMER BASTARDS. Fixed now. Checked all my other sites.

Today, I want to get commission-control to beta testing, and work generally on this massive list of things to do: http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1059260.html

Art and Authoring

Go read Cause and Defect! Comment here or there!

I've pulled up Homecoming a few times and squinted at it in disgust. Mostly, I'm in coding mode. If I felt better sitting more upright, I might paint today. I might, anyway.

Home and Health

Still weak, but continuing to improve. I sat too long at the table doing drafting yesterday, which caused soreness, but it's better this morning. I've entered a fabulous new stage of healing with the incisions: INCREDIBLY ITCHY. It even itches inside...

I paid for the nephews' summer camps yesterday, too - it's their combination birthday and Christmas presents, and they should have fun. Ethan picked Tae Kwan Do camp and Isaac is doing Archery camp.

Okay! More code now, and some emails!