netfilter ip_conntrack_ftp and tls

Here I am attempting to connect to a server using lftp wondering why the firewall is blocking the incoming data connections, even though ip_conntrack_ftp has been working for years.

lftp supports tls, and so does the server I’m connecting to. This means the control connection is encrypted, so the netfilter ftp connection tracker can’t peek inside the packets to find out which ports to open up to allow the data connections. DUH. Ftp sucks.

Anyway, the only way I found to disable tls support in lftp is to add the following line to ~/.lftp/rc:

set ftp:ssl-allow false

7/12/2005 2 Comments

Pinky and my brain

I fell down the stairs on Wednesday and bumped the back of my head on the wall. Ever since then I’ve had a dull headache and occasional, but rather intense, flashes of pain behind my right eye. I’ve called NHS direct and they suggest I get it checked out, so I’m off down to A&E now.

I hope I didn’t break anything important. I like my brain. It knows what food I like.

UPDATE: The cute doctor says I have concussion and need to take it easy for a week. No staring at screens or reading. I guess I’ll need to go for a long walk. A really long walk. She asked if I’d had trouble concentrating or anything and I realised that reading has been rather difficult since Wednesday. I’d assumed that this particular book I’ve been reading had just got really complicated and/or was written badly. Turns out it’s more likely due to the bump. I’ll have to go back a couple of chapters to catch up when I’m feeling better.

2/12/2005 2 Comments

Blendr: merge images together from Flickr

The image below was created by blending 500 photos of sunsets together. I’ve made a bunch more images like that too.

To create these I wrote some tools to pull images from Flickr and blend them together to make a new and usually interesting image. The tools are written in Python and licensed under the GPL.

I was inspired by the “amalgamations” artwork of Jason Salavon.

28/11/2005 1 Comment

Fat Wreck Chords RIAA member

Fat Wreck Chords are listed on the RIAA members list. This is a little confusing, considering they are an independent label who vehemently oppose the practices of the record industry dinosaurs.

After lots and lots of searching, I finally found what seems to be an excerpt from some newsletter by Fat Mike which denies this insanity. Though it states that they were taken off the list after complaining a lot, they are back on it now.

I’ve e-mailed them to suggest they put it on their website news section or something. It’s difficult to find the truth otherwise (assuming it is the truth).

UPDATE: Turns out this is old news, and Fat Wreck Chords deny any involvement with RIAA. I found that a guy e-mailed them about it in 2003 and they responded. Still no answer from them myself though.

25/11/2005 Add Comment

Armley Park in Autumn

photo of some trees in armley park, leeds

16/11/2005 Add Comment

Leeds Unite Against Fascism Protest

People came together in Leeds on Wednesday to Unite Against Fascism. We protested outside Leeds Crown Court where Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, was up on charges of inciting racial hatred (well, the preliminary hearing). Louisa has written a much more in-depth commentary of the day, go read it. But in summary, it was a very positive day and we outnumbered the BNP supporters almost ten to one.

protestors at the unite against fascism march in Leeds

I took lots of photos, some of which you can find on my Unite Against Fascism Protest gallery.

UPDATE: ROFL. I just read that the BNP claim, on their website, that 350 supporters turned up and only 300 protestors. The way I saw it (and the mainstream media) they had, at most, 200 people and we had between 800 and 1000! Such hilarious misrepresentation of the facts is worthy of a FOX news piece.

4/11/2005 8 Comments

Cligs version 2 beta

I’m beta testing version 2 of CLIGS (Cute Little Image Gallery System). The new version is a complete rewrite with a view to tidy code and scalability.

It also now supports theming, and the default theme has had a lot of attention to ensure usability. Give it a whirl.

Report any bugs or suggestions to me via e-mail. Or you can register and write your notes directly onto the WiKi.

4/11/2005 Add Comment

LUG radio

I’ve just got off the phone with the chaps from LUG radio. They were chatting with me about the Everybody Loves Eric Raymond comic strip. 10 million geeks will hear it next Tuesday and rush to buy the tshirts I’m hocking on there. Or will be. By next week. Then I can retire at 26.

Anyway, it’s an amusing show so you should be listening to it whether I’m on it or not, so get downloading.

2/11/2005 Add Comment

red bricks

red brick building with blue sky

25/10/2005 Add Comment

things I’ve lost

I’ve lost many things in my life. Some were valuable and some were not. Some I cannot remember, though you might count these as lost memories. Some I’ve listed here:

  • My innocence (ahem)
  • A pack of marked playing cards
  • A superman kite
  • A scientific calculator and some parker pens
  • A mountain bike
  • My faith (though this really just counts as my ignorance)
  • A hamster and a mouse
  • A lot of bank debit cards
  • Some music CDs
  • A signed copy of Bruce Schneier’s book, Secrets and Lies

And most recently, a 62mm circular polarized lens filter.

11/10/2005 2 Comments

New version of The Gimp

There is a new version of the The Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program) on the horizon. Version 2.4, due to be released this month, has lots of cool new stuff:

  • Foreground selection tool, to help cutting people out of photos and placing them with Ghandi and/or Hitler.
  • New interpolation method called Lanczos. The best they’ve had until now was Cubic, which apprently sucks (this will please King Andy)
  • Reorganisation of buttons, labels and dialogs in accordance with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, to make things easier for us humans to use.
  • Colour management! At last! It now supports ICC profiles, though you can’t do much advanced stuff, like converting between profiles. Early days.
  • All filters now support previews
  • Lots of little bug fixes and other improvements

See the Changelog for more geeky details. And some screen-shots.

7/10/2005 Add Comment

ID cards to become law

Just a reminder that the UK National ID card threat has not gone away. The government is still planning to get this piece of police state legislation implemented. The whole scheme is going to cost an estimated £19 billion. That’s over £300 per card. And it won’t make us more secure. It won’t prevent the majority benefit fraud. The technology doesn’t even work. It seems to achieve nothing but invade our privacy and provide fat contracts to private technology firms.

The world is not a different place since 9/11. The “rules of the game” have not changed. Reject the ID card.

Read more at “Our World Our Say” and No2Id.

Please donate something to the “Our World Our Say” campaign against ID cards. They have various projects to raise awareness and are currently raising money for an advertising campaign.

30/9/2005 1 Comment